Watch: Phish Wrap Two-Night Return to San Francisco with 30-Minute “Tweezer”
Photo Credit: Dave Vann
Last night, April 23, Phish stepped into the spotlight for their second and final performance at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. On the storied quartet’s limited Spring Tour so far, the theme has been expert, refreshed takes on the classics to ease into another packed year of performances; at preceding stops in Seattle and Portland, Ore. and night one in the Bay alike, the emphasized longtime favorites delivered with an imaginative and exploratory energy. Wednesday’s set kept up this trend, as the jam pioneers centered classics from their early era in an ambitious, nearly entirely segued two-set performance.
Each of Phish’s West Coast stops so far has had a particular gravity as their return to the region after some time away, and night one at Bill Graham–the group’s first performance in San Francisco since 2021–marked the occasion with finely-honed re-introductions to setlist staples, like a sprawling introductory “Mike’s Groove” run. Night two shared the same focus on the hits and electrifying first moves as the band opened with “Simple” to set up a dynamic, non-stop 47-minute sprint through “Punch You in the Eye,” “Gumbo” and “Reba,” stitched together by surprising and inventive jams.
Phish turned a page mid-set to a quick and twisted medley of “The Well” and “David Bowie,” which upended expectations by transforming those often predictable tracks into cathartic, but focused and sparing jam vehicles. Now clearly loose and relishing in the novel approaches, the quartet accelerated into an explosive first frame closer of “Character Zero.”
In another curveball, Phish’s second set of the evening broke tradition with the inclusion of more melodic and modern entries than the first–with serious exceptions. While they seemed to foreshadow the approach by speeding into the set with a tight boogie on “Sample in a Jar,” they veered way off road with the turn into a behemoth “Tweezer.” The cherished standout from A Picture of Nectar is known to go big, but it was impossible to feel unfazed by the definite jam centerpiece of Wednesday night–a writhing, effects-heavy, rhythmically involved and downright demanding journey that scaled and slipped from multiple peaks distanced by knowing, way-out atmospheric sections over 30 minutes. The band cooled down afterwards with a lovely “Lonely Trip.”
Phish jumped back into action with Talking Heads’ “Crosseyed and Painless,” which maintained a steady, commanding pulse before fading away into another warmhearted recent cut of “Pillow Jets.” After wrapping up the second with a powerful “You Enjoy Myself,” the band built anticipation for their next show–Friday, April 25 as the first of three nights at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl–with an encore of “Wading in the Velvet Sea” and “First Tube.”
For tickets and more information on Phish’s Spring Tour, visit phish.com. Read on for the full setlist from Wednesday night.
Phish
Bill Graham Auditorium – San Francisco
4/23/25
Set I: Simple → Punch You in the Eye > Gumbo > Reba, The Well > David Bowie, Character Zero
Set II: Sample in a Jar > Tweezer > Lonely Trip, Crosseyed and Painless > Pillow Jets, You Enjoy Myself
Encore: Wading in the Velvet Sea, First Tube
Notes:
Gumbo contained Manteca teases from Page and Tweezer teases from Trey. Trey teased Manteca in Tweezer.
Setlist via phish.net.
