Phish Launch Second Weekend of 2026 Sphere Residency
Phish, photo by Alive Coverage
Phish’s Sphere residency is a gift that keeps on giving. Last night, the pioneering jam quartet returned to commence the second of three weekends in their second series at the technologically peerless arena, and there can formally be no doubt that they’ll maintain the fervent energy of their first three shows through to the end of the run. Thursday’s performance exceeded expectations again with a heaping helping of titanic jams, matched to more stunning visual effects and specked with a few twists for keen-eared listeners.
Attendees entering the fourth show in Phish’s Sphere series were greeted with another panoramic view of The Barn, Trey Anastasio’s Vermont recording studio, as they settled into their seats and waited for the band to emerge. Anastasio counted the quartet off, and they tumbled into the shuffling rhythm of “46 Days,” which provided a comparably loose counterpoint to the rigid intricacies of “Guyute,” and a fractalizing cave of wooden panels gave way to the mesmerizing laser show approzimating Chris Kuroda’s lighting rig.
While Kuroda’s lights had a more modest part in Phish’s 2024 Sphere debut, their expanded presence in their recent shows has provided a welcome connection to the standard live Phish experience, and offered the lighting designer an opportunity to translate the hypnotic simplicity of his typical lighting rig to Sphere’s 160,000 ft2 display. These nightly booth sit-ins from Phish’s unofficial fifth member have brought a degree of malleable, improvisatory potential to the visuals at Sphere well-suited for the band’s embrace of the moment of creation.
As Phish struck up “Maze,” Sphere’s screens projected the wall of framed concert posters reorganizing itself into the labyrinth seen on the cover of Rift – a sequence that also accompanied last Thursday’s take on the 1993 album’s title track. This marked the first repeated visual in the Sphere series so far; while the 2024 run included all-new art every night, the expanded scope of their nine-show return naturally warrants a different tack. Just afterward, “Esther” spirited the audience to the alien lake night and day sequence from last Friday, and “Gumbo” moved through an eye-popping checkerboard desertscape and tubular, cel-shaded cityscape.
Anastasio toggled to his acoustic guitar for a tight four-minute turnaround of “Brian and Robert,” then an alternately meticulous and fast and loose “Stash” conjured the sticky, squishing gum scene from last week. David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream” appeared to cap off the first frame, and the quartet’s 12th take on the song was fittingly set to a dazzling celestial whirlpool.
Phish’s second set featured a few jams taken to awe-inspiring lengths, but none was more rapturous than their 37-minute “Fuego,” which roared for 17 minutes before a discordant peak brought a wrecking ball graphic that cut the screens and activated seat haptics. The group quickly moved into type two territory with a menacing ambiance that slowly thawed under the hot lights of another CK5 lightshow. LivePhish has this latter section distinguished from the main track as the 20-minute new title “Dark Puddle.”
Radiance broke through this haze for a lighthearted take on TV On The Radio’s “Golden Age,” but the group just couldn’t quit “Fuego,” with bits and pieces peaking through the jam before finally derailing the cover back into one last phase of the 2014 standout. Nonetheless, light prevailed, and the group closed out the set with a chipper trip through “Backwards Down the Number Line,” “Cavern” and “Possum.” When the band returned for their encore, Anastasio whipped out his megaphone and led “Fee,” then “Tube” and “More” came as a high-spirited closer promising more excitement in the residency’s second half.
Phish will return to Sphere tonight, then deliver four more shows at the venue through May 2. Find tickets and more information at phish.com, and stream the shows at nugs.net.
Phish
Sphere – Las Vegas
4/23/26
Set I: 46 Days, Guyute, Maze, Esther, Gumbo, Brian and Robert[1], Stash, Moonage Daydream
Set II: The Curtain With, Fuego[2] > Golden Age -> Fuego, Backwards Down the Number Line, Cavern > Possum
Encore: Fee[3], Tube, More
[1] Trey on acoustic guitar.
[2] Fish on Marimba Lumina.
[3] Trey sang verses through a megaphone.
