Trey Anastasio performs with Phish on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

PITTSBURGH – Phish fanatics in Pittsburgh were served a sizzling hot show in more ways than one Tuesday night, when a gargantuan and seemingly eternal second-set jam catapulted the show into the band’s record books and left a wide-eyed, sweaty crowd with jaws agape.

The band is notorious for marathon improvisations, but few of even the most hardcore Phish fans can say they bore witness to one of the biggest monsters the band has ever conjured. When it eventually reached the finish line, the historic June 24, 2025 rendition of “What’s Going Through Your Mind” clocked in at just under 43 minutes, and by all accounts earning the claim as the sixth longest song Phish has ever performed live in its 42-year history.

But more about that later.

Sizzling temperatures and high humidity outside the Petersen Events Center on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh had the heat index hovering near triple digits before showtime, with die-hard fans eagerly lining up to get inside the venue for some air conditioned relief from the early summer heatwave.

Phish kicked off their summer tour last weekend with a three-night stand in Manchester, New Hampshire, making its one-night visit to Pittsburgh only the second stop of the new tour. The band last played the area at a two-night run in 2023 at the Pavilion at Star Lake and last performed at “The Pete” in 2019.

Mike Gordon performs with Phish on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

So far on this tour, the unique set lists for each of the shows has not had a single repeat, and while several fan favorites had already surfaced before the band landed in Pittsburgh, a treasure trove of nuggets and surprises awaited.

The opening set launched with the solid staple “AC/DC Bag,” followed by a flurry of tunes that included several “bust-outs,” songs that have not been performed by Phish in years. “Dogs Stole Things” and “Paul and Silas” (played for the first time in nearly a decade) were relatively short and concise, yet gratifying to the deep-track connoisseur. Keyboardist Paige McConnell took lead vocals with “I Always Wanted It This Way,” which was followed by a whimsical, country flavored number that has become another on-stage rarity – “Water in the Sky.”

Mid-tempo vibes continued with more of a swaggering rock edge as “Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan” almost foreshadowed what was to come in the second set, boasting the lyric, “got a blank space where my mind should be …”

Bassist Mike Gordon took lead vocals on the calypso cover “Ya Mar,” which led to guitarist Trey Anastasio requesting a piano solo from McConnell by exclaiming “play it, Leo!” It’s a phrase that has become a calling card for Phish’s renditions of that upbeat song, but it’s an exclamation that would again resurface later in the show.

Extended jams and a more intense light show came toward the end of the first set with “Gumbo” and the always clutch set closer “Walls of the Cave.”

Jon Fishman performs with Phish on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

Following an intermission, the band returned to the stage and opened the second set with what initially appeared to be the epic jam of the night with the quintessential Phish gem “You Enjoy Myself.” The fan favorite, a largely instrumental number, included all of the bells and whistles, with Anastasio and Gordon jumping in sync on exercise trampolines, a psychedelic a cappella section and an extended jam. “Cactus” Gordon even took a bass solo, to boot. The “YEM” set opener clocked in at a sizable 20 minutes. It seemed to be the big boss of the night. But then …

“What’s Going Through Your Mind” began very near the top of the 10-o’clock hour. The band’s newest song, it made its debut late last summer and has been in a regular rotation on the set lists every few shows, but still it had only been performed seven times going into Tuesday night. Although the band’s latest album “Evolve” was released mid-summer last year, it is chalk full of tunes that have been road tested by either Phish or the band members’ solo or side projects. “What’s Going Through Your Mind” does not appear on “Evolve” or any studio recording. It’s a very wordy, story driven song with a myriad of different characters’ names mentioned.

“WGTYM” started off as any other version of the song would, with its normal cycle of verses and its slightly menacing, man-made vocal echo of “… mind, mind, mind, mind, mind …” sung by the band members at the end of the chorus. As Phish does, they began to jam out the instrumental part in the middle of the song.

Eventually it became clear that time itself was irrelevant.

The unsuspecting audience could not have known the depths that the foursome’s improvisational exploration would end up going as it continued to unfold with unwavering commitment. Drummer Jon Fishman kept the steady rock shuffle of the song moving forward relentlessly, while the rest of the band ventured off into different spacey realms.

Paige McConnell performs with Phish on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

Deeper into the jam, the mood turned darker, and the pace of the drum beat quickened slightly, molting into a psychedelic soundscape comparable to a Grateful Dead “Drums/Space” experiment mixed with the cosmic middle section of “Third Stone From the Sun” by Jimi Hendrix.

Taking on a life of its own, the “Mind” jam was loose, with no signs of an exit ramp or open door to a potential beginning to another song. So the band played on, flexing their incessant stamina. They seemed to be searching for a cohesive riff or beat to which they all could gravitate … but there was nothing to collectively grab on to, so the free fall into outer space continued.

The bulk of the behemoth was more of a jazzy free-form jam than it was a danceable groove, which made it somewhat challenging for the capacity crowd. Had it been driven by more of a bouncy beat to which everyone could dance along, the test of endurance would have been more palatable and engaging from a fans’ perspective. But the “Mind” jam’s goal was to dazzle minds, not to shake booties. It was on a journey with no destination, and its passengers were along for the ride simply to behold its grandeur.

As the cooling capacity of the venue’s AC units was pushed to the limit – battling the sweltering heat dome that enveloped the city outside, the fans’ unifying solace through the weird and unknown became Chris Kuroda’s mind-melting light show.

Considered to be the fifth member of the band, Kuroda is arguably the best concert lighting wizard in the business. His ability to compliment the mood of each song with color and visual textures is worth the price of admission alone. It’s a true feast for the eyes.

Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon, from left, perform with Phish on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

Kuroda’s monstrous light system is always evolving and currently consists of an array of individual units that can move up and down on pulley systems suspended from the ceiling’s steel rigging – sometimes dropping as low as about 10 feet or so above the heads of the audience on the floor. The lights have sweeping beams and LED bars that are all programmable to perform all kinds of synchronized tricks, creating an awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping spectacle.

About 32 minutes into the “Mind” jam, Fishman settled into a more tribal beat, prompting the lights to turn to a cooler blue. But the improv continued from there for another 10 minutes or so before somehow, someway, the band was able to seamlessly transition not into another song, but back into the final verse of “What’s Going Through Your Mind.”

With an hour and three minutes spent on just two songs in the second set, the 11 o’clock hour brought more hasty renditions of songs to fill out what had just become a now historic show.

“Prince Caspian” has become an anthem for Phish at “The Pete.” It has appeared at all three shows the band has played there, although no version can match the epic set one closer that ripped a hole in the sky in 2017 during what some argue was the greatest “Prince Caspian” ever.

Ending on an upbeat note, the great one-two punch of “Julius” into “Blaze On” finished out the second set, with Anastasio again exclaiming, “play it, Leo!” (I can’t remember where, but I swear there was one more occasion during the show when this was said, which would make it a pseudo “Leo Trio.”)

The encore brought “The Howling” and a satisfying, show-closing rendition of “Ghost.”

An enthusiastic crowd welcomed Phish back to the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh on a steamy night June 24, 2025. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

Aside from this Pittsburgh performance and an upcoming stop in Columbus, the Phish Summer 2025 Tour includes multiple shows – two or three nights – in every other city. Despite the fact that it is the outdoor concert season, most of the shows on the tour are actually indoors – where the magical light show can use the entire room as a palette.

Although one-stop cities on the schedule may at a glance appear to be simply filler dates between mini-residencies on the tour, the smoking crater left in Pittsburgh is proof that fans should not sleep on the single concert shows. Phish will perform its only other one-off concert on July 9 at the Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University — at what will be the band’s first show in Columbus in 25 years.

Trey Anastasio performs with Phish on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

Mike Gordon performs with Phish on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

Paige McConnell performs with Phish on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

Jon Fishman performs with Phish on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Eric Ayres)