It’s the spring of 2026, and Phish are lighting up Las Vegas once again with their highly anticipated return to the technological marvel known as Sphere. The beloved rock quartet from Vermont was the second group to play Sphere after U2‘s opening residency, and Phish’s four-night run in April 2024 set a high bar for those to follow, with no song repeats and unique, multi-dimensional visuals for each song from their creative partners at Moment Factory. Now Phish have expanded their approach with a nine-show residency consisting of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday trifectas over three consecutive weekends at the 17,000-capacity venue.
Fans were effusive about the first two weekends of the residency, which have again featured no song repeats. However, some visuals have been recycled strategically. A prime example is the animated “Gamehendge” sequence, depicting a Tolkien-esque mythological realm that guitarist Trey Anastasio created for his music school thesis at Goddard College in 1988. The animation was utilized for “Colonel Forbin’s Ascent” into “The Famous Mockingbird” the first weekend, then for “The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday” into “The Lizards” on the second weekend. It feels like a savvy strategy with the coveted Gamehendge songs being spread across the residency, after none were played at Sphere in 2024.
Recycling some visuals seems to be the creative compromise needed for such a residency, given the time and cost of creating sequences for Sphere’s immersive wraparound LED screens. Now Phish are set to conclude their residency here on 30th April, 1st May and 2nd May. Adding the Gamehendge songs into the mix represents something of a gonzo approach, which is to say inserting oneself into the story. The Vermont troubadours are best known for their stupendous improvisational prowess, yet for longtime fans, there’s nothing more uniquely Phish than the Gamehendge saga, in which the noble lizard people wage a revolutionary resistance against the evil tyrant King Wilson, who has taken over their land.
Longtime band artist Jim Pollock’s limited-edition print for the residency also takes a gonzo approach, featuring a scene that pays tribute to the Mint 400 off-road desert race. Covering the race was, in fact, the original assignment that brought legendary gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson to town for what would morph into his influential counterculture quest for “the American Dream”: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Pollock also offers some potential titles for the print on social media that hint at the epic cinematic nature of the Sphere residency, alluding to Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Indiana Jones with “Phish Sphere: Return of the Jedi”, “The Lord of the Sphere: Return of the Phish”, and “Phish Sphere and the Last Crusade”.
The Pollock print also features five flying saucer UFOs in the upper-left corner of the Vegas desert landscape, alluding to the long-standing interest of Earth’s extraterrestrial visitors in humanity’s rock music. The ET theme is also represented at Sphere’s entrance, where the robot Gort from the 1951 sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still remains on guard at Sphere’s ground-level escalators as he has since the venue opened. Gort’s presence at Sphere feels like a representation of alien interest in humanity’s unique artistic talents in music and film, as well as the galactic community’s ongoing concern about humanity’s potential to spread our insane warmongering and nuclear threat level across the cosmos.
As showtime approaches on Thursday, some longtime fans can’t help but reflect on what a long, strange trip it’s been going to see Phish in Las Vegas over the past three decades. Can it really be nearly 30 years since Phish made their debut appearance in Sin City, when they concluded their 1996 fall tour with a climactic cosmic barnburner for the ages at the Aladdin Theatre? It feels like a lifetime ago. “Tales of the Phish” in Las Vegas have been truly legendary, including the Halloween ’98 musical costume of the Velvet Underground‘s Loaded album at the Thomas & Mack Center, followed two years later by Anastasio’s 36th birthday show that featured a “Harpua” story of a strange dream in which Trey realized that “Gamehendge is a state of mind”.
Then there was the launch of a new Vegas Halloween tradition in 2014 with the incendiary Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House performance at MGM Grand; a magical musical costume performance of David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in 2016; and two more far out Halloween shows in 2018 and 2021 in which Phish posed as the fictional bands Kasvot Vaxt and Sci-Fi Soldiers. Demand for a Phish Halloween show at Sphere might break the Internet, though, so a nine-show spring residency feels like a more democratic solution.
Some fans with the time and resources have set up in Vegas for the entire residency. Yet it seems that most fans feel they need to choose one weekend and are thrilled with seeing three shows. Catching Phish at Sphere feels like chasing down that elusive American Dream and catching up with it, at least for a weekend. That comes from the sense of seeing the most musically adventurous band in the land at a unique venue with an extraordinary storytelling capacity that can’t be found anywhere else (as the late great Bobby Weir mused to Variety in 2024 when asked what made Sphere such a compelling opportunity for Dead & Company).
Thursday, 30th April
Night seven of the residency launches with “The Wedge”, a Phish classic with a uniquely syncopated groove. The song conjures a nostalgic vibe here, with visuals of a giant record player in a listening room featuring Jim Pollock show prints from the late 1990s into the 2000s. The sentimental feeling is enhanced further with what looks like a modernized rendition of “The Great Went Robot”, a character from the rare Pollock print for Phish’s landmark Great Went festival in 1997 at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine.
The reggae-tinged “NICU” uses psychedelic swirls, while the moody “Leaves” features mesmerizing outer-space and forest imagery from 2020’s Sigma Oasis, which seems to lament humanity’s exploitation of the Earth. “Punch You in the Eye” ignites the Sphere with an electrifying charge, as the Gamehendge deep cut always fires up the fanbase as few other songs can. A giant neon robot is featured, joined by a couple of robotic companions, which soon morph into a squadron of robots across a landscape connected by power lines overhead.
The second set moves to the next level with extended jams on “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing” and “A Wave of Hope”, with both songs featuring dazzling psychedelic lighting from Phish’s longtime light man Chris Kuroda. Known as “CK5” for how his artistry makes him akin to a fifth member of the band, Kuroda has a larger role in this year’s Sphere run, with a virtual light rig to ramp up the psychedelia on an existential level, featuring lights that look like lasers crisscrossing all over. The sensational display enhances the music as Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell crush a triumphant jam in scintillating fashion. Debuted in 2021, “A Wave of Hope” has become another of Phish’s top jam vehicles, and this exhilarating ride shows why.
Another highlight comes from “Runaway Jim”, with a colorful scene depicting a Phishy version of the Las Vegas Strip, featuring a “Phish Hotel” in the center. Some more hot riffage leads into the ever-groovy “Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley”, with trippy geometric shapes that feel like a portal to a very funky dimension.
The heartfelt “Drift While You’re Sleeping” from Anastasio’s 2019 Ghosts of the Forest side project closes the set with an immersive trip through a majestic mountain landscape, including a sunset waterfall. It may not be the rager closer that some might prefer, but the song has deep spiritual vibes that open into a big groove during the B section. When Trey sings of intent to meet a friend on “the other side” for another barrel ride over the falls, it can hit in the feels for anyone who may have recently lost a loved one.
A stellar old school double encore of “The Sloth” from Gamehendge and “The Squirming Coil” from 1990’s Lawn Boy closes out the show in style, with McConnell pictured in larger than life form on the screens as he plays the classic outro piano solo.
Friday, 1st May
Thursday at Sphere was a blast, but there’s a sense that Phish will be ready to ramp things up to a higher level on Friday. That surge begins about halfway through the first set when “Mound” gets fans clapping in unison, as the visuals expand on the Pollock print theme from Thursday with an array of Phish concert prints from classic shows through the years. One of the weekend’s most delightful moments comes soon after when the rocking “Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan” is followed by the coveted “Tela”, with the cinematic Gamehendge animation.
The song about a beautiful and daring woman named Tela, known as the “jewel of Wilson’s foul domain,” is sung by McConnell as a valorous ballad about her exploits. The song shifts into an atonal fugue that features some of Trey’s most dynamic fretwork, as the audience revels in a multi-dimensional experience that’s been decades in the making.
As in the previous two weekends, Phish doubles down with a second Gamehendge song as the animation continues. “McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters” is another sonic gem, relating the tale of Colonel Forbin’s dog McGrupp. The images in the animation shift to a darker theme as the evil King Wilson captures the Helping Friendly Book, while the lizards who were dancing in glee to “Tela” now face turbulent conflict against soldiers who resemble orcs from Middle Earth.
The entire Gamehendge sequence is an artistic triumph fans have been clamoring for at least since a 1994 band newsletter in which Trey suggested that an interactive CD-ROM was in the works. “Wingsuit” from 2014’s Fuego provides a soaring interlude with some Pink Floyd vibes, backed by imagery of a spacey vortex.
That leads to a truly epic peak moment when the mostly instrumental classic “David Bowie” closes the set with a smoking jam, backed by a radiant array of cosmic imagery with what looks like a space portal that goes on to include a starry waterfall. Immersive movement makes it feel like Sphere is a spaceship traveling through the cosmos, while Phish jams out, and the sensory effect is truly spectacular! Phish even throws in a sample of John Candy’s character ordering “Three orange whips” in The Blues Brothers, perhaps alluding to retro flavor at a big concert.
The second set continues to deliver as Phish open with the hard rocking “Wilson”, conjuring a chant of solidarity against the evil king while larger than life images of the band members rock out amidst abstract mandalas. “Seven Below” features a spacey desert landscape and an immersive cityscape with marbles on tube slides that recall the final scene of 1997’s Men in Black. The melodic jam starts stretching out before giving way to “Plasma”, which feels a bit flat at first, but the band and Kuroda’s lights pick up in a trippy direction.
The energy level ignites once again when Phish launches into their ever-popular cover of the Talking Heads’ “Crosseyed and Painless”, a scintillating fan favorite ever since its debut in the 1996 Halloween show. The song’s zeitgeisty lament against the irrational chaos of modern society has only intensified in the 21st century, making for hot jams that light up the night every time out. The quartet builds on a tight, simmering groove over the primary melody, with Kuroda providing his psychedelic alchemy, before the jam pivots into a major key with pretty colours. A triumphant tonal ascension leads to Trey throwing in teases on the Allman Brothers Band’s “Mountain Jam”, always a sign of a hot jam as everyone gets down.
The sonic exploration deepens with spaced-out vocals on the “Still waiting” line in a mantra-like style, further enhanced when Fishman wails it like a monk or shaman in a trance. The heady vibes are off the charts with the shamanic nature of the vocals recalling the memorable version at the Gorge on 15th July, 2016. Fishman had been openly campaigning for Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders for the previous year, and it was the first show after Senator Sanders had to wave the white flag in his campaign for political revolution against Hillary Clinton and the DNC, which had put its thumb on the scale for Clinton.
“Crosseyed” opened the second set, and the “still waiting” line and melody were teased throughout the set, along with “What’s the Use”, generating a thematic statement against the powers that be. The similarity here at Sphere feels like a commentary on the madness of Trump’s foul domain.
The magic moments keep coming as Phish move next into “Pillow Jets”, reprising the immersive psychedelic forest imagery that made the new song into a peak highlight at Sphere in 2024. There’s a “Choose Your Own Adventure” vibe as fans are taken on a melodic journey through the gorgeous forest, which morphs into fireworks during the jam. A mellow interlude on “Shade” with sunset cloud imagery then gives way to a fiery “Sand” to close the set in climactic fashion, as the band rocks out on the heavy groove with strange dental visuals that morph into a river with rubber ducks and pineapples.
It’s been a monster set that seems to call for a big encore, and so it is as Phish perform “I Didn’t Know” with their classic acapella style vocals, plus a vacuum solo from a larger-than-life Fishman. The quartet gets back to rocking out on “I Saw It Again” before closing big with the Velvet Underground’s “Rock and Roll”, an instant classic Phish anthem ever since its debut here in Vegas at the Halloween 1998 show.
Fans can keep the festivities going at the Tuscany Suites, the official “Shakedown Street” for Phish’s Sphere shows, where Danny’s Live Dead plays a free aftershow party in the ballroom. Led by drummer Danny Luehring of “Terrapin Allstars” fame at the late great Phil Lesh’s now legendary Terrapin Crossroads club in San Rafael, California, the group also features guitarist Garrett Deloian from Jerry’s Middle Finger, bassist Brian Rashap from the Mother Hips (also Phil’s former bass tech), and keyboardist Danny Eisenberg. The Cali quartet rocks out on Grateful Dead classics for another three hours, providing a great opportunity to double down on the good times in Las Vegas for those out to make the most of it.
Saturday, 2nd May
Phish’s Sphere residency finale falls on the same day as the Kentucky Derby, conjuring still more gonzo vibes since the race was made even more famous in counterculture circles thanks to Hunter S. Thompson’s classic 1970 Rolling Stone article, “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved”. Fans who are inspired to bet on a horse named Golden Tempo just because his name approximates Phish’s performances at Sphere could walk away with a 25-1 payoff when the longshot surges out of nowhere during the stretch run to take the race.
The Bob Marley-influenced “Farmhouse” opens the show with a magnificent vibe, thanks to the accompanying Northern Lights imagery that mirrors the song’s lyrics. “Undermind” rocks with uniquely trippy imagery from a melty, alternate-reality landscape, while a jam on the bluesy “Ocelot” features the band members as characters in a “Space Invaders/Galaga”- style video game for a fun retro flashback. “Ether Edge” jams out with immersive imagery of birds taking flight from a mountain, soaring over a sunny canyon, literally putting fans in the birds-eye seat.
“Llama” rocks out with imagery that looks like some psychedelic roots, before “Silent in the Morning” wins a big cheer when the band sings of how “This same thing happened to me just last year”. It’s been two years since Phish were here at Sphere, but the sentiment works much the same as it leads into a rocking jam on “Taste” with a reprise of the sonic temple imagery from that memorable jam in 2024.
Phish open the last set in electrifying fashion as McConnell comes out front with his keytar, in larger-than-life imagery for Edgar Winter’s classic “Frankenstein”. Kuroda shines again with his virtual light rig during “Kill Devil Falls”, then even more so during an extended jam on the transcendent “Ruby Waves” from Ghosts of the Forest. It’s the longest jam of the night as it cracks 20 minutes, with Trey putting on a guitar clinic over stellar grooving from Gordon and Fishman for one of the weekend’s peak moments of sonic bliss.
A groovy run through the funky “Meatstick” is enhanced by imagery of a hot dog spaceship soaring through the cosmos, followed by a hot jam on “My Friend, My Friend,” with psychedelic grid imagery that recalls The Matrix. The rocking tune morphs into a cosmic funk jam before giving way to the heartfelt Ghosts of the Forest ballad “A Life Beyond the Dream”. Beautiful imagery here includes a whale and fish flying through a foggy forest, seemingly alluding to the lyric “We share these moments, until they melt away to foggy memories”.
A rip-rocking blast through “Character Zero” with Kuroda lighting closes the set at a high energy level. The show hasn’t had as many peak moments as Friday night’s phenomenal crowd pleaser, though that’s a very high bar. “Wading in the Velvet Sea” opens the encore with a sentimental ballad featuring photos of fans over the years, illustrating the special bond between the quartet and their fans that has enabled the Phish experience to keep going for more than 40 years now. A charged finale on the classic “Fluffhead” is a big winner as imagery from throughout the three shows is utilized for a flashback through the weekend, before concluding with images of a festive fireworks display.
Fans who attended all nine shows will go on to cite the 1st May show as their favorite of the residency, further testimony to the strength of Friday’s top-helf performance. It’s been a genuinely fantastic weekend, as Phish at Sphere once again proves to be an incredible concert experience like no other, while setting another very high bar for every band that follows.
