Phish makes a new mythology in Madison | Music

The Cap Times is an independent newsroom serving Madison and Wisconsin. Sign up for the Food & Culture newsletter for exclusive weekly insight.

Every Phish show generates its own mythology. In Madison that mythology dates back to 1998, when the band’s last appearance at the Kohl Center was nearly upstaged by an onstage streaker. 

This week, some 28 years later, the Vermont-based jam band icons returned to Madison and the Kohl Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to open their summer tour. They delivered another performance fans are likely to be talking about for years — an expansive, 18-song marathon spanning two sets and an encore over more than three hours. 

With 16 albums and 50 live albums since the band’s debut in 1989, Phish has quite the catalogue to pull from during their improvisatorial live shows, where they never play the same setlist — or even a song — the same way.

That unpredictability has cultivated one of the most dedicated fan communities in popular music. Guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell have spent nearly four decades developing the kind of chemistry that lets songs become launchpads into lengthy jams. 

Phish fans love face-melting jams

Before the lights even dimmed, strangers passed each other on the way to their seats with the same greeting: “Have a great show!” 

To be a Phish fan is to measure life in shows attended: first shows, milestone shows, legendary shows. Sporting a “100th Phish show!” T-shirt, Madison native Ryan Ayres said he has found community at Phish shows. 

“It’s a family reunion for so many of us,” said Ayres, who reunited with friends (and fellow fans) from Colorado and Alaska. He first saw Phish in 2009. 

The band took the stage around 7:30 p.m. From the opening notes of “Chalk Dust Torture,” Anastasio’s grin rarely left his face, setting the tone for a nine-song first set that leaned into uptempo jams with “Back On The Train and “Free.” After ending the set with “Weekapaug Groove” and “Character Zero,” the band had welcomed fans like Middleton resident Ryan Cigler back into the Phish sound. 

“That was one of the best sets I’ve ever seen,” Cigler said. 

Following a 20-minute set break, the crowd again embraced the electric atmosphere of the first set. Like many Phish shows, the Kohl Center carried the vibes, with tie-dye-clad fans, free-flowing dancing and the occasional waft of cannabis smoke blending into a communal celebration that has long been part of the band’s culture.

‘A completely different level’

A defining stretch of the concert came during the second set, when Phish leaned into the weirder, more experimental side of their music. 

“Run Like an Antelope” provided an explosive start. Then a sprawling, 26-minute rendition of “Fuego” became the centerpiece of the evening. Built almost entirely on improvisation, the performance felt less like a song than the band collectively reaching a flow state, taking the crowd on a journey to get lost in. 

Kansas resident Kate Iselin has seen Phish more than 60 times, and finds the experience at its best in these moments. 

“My favorite part about a Phish show is when you’re in the middle of a jam and you don’t even remember what song they’re playing. They transport you to a completely different level … you don’t remember where it started,” Iselin said.

For San Francisco fan Tyler Dixon, who traveled to Madison for the tour opener, that feeling goes beyond the music.

“It’s like Trey opens a portal,” Dixon said. “There’s this transference of energy between the band and the crowd that you just give yourself over to.”

Just after 11 p.m., Phish closed its summer tour opener with a two-song encore featuring “Slave To The Traffic Light” and “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.”  before thousands of fans streamed into the night, already speculating about what Wednesday’s setlist might hold.

For Iselin, the show felt right. “It’s always like coming home,” she said.