Photo Credit: Dean Budnick

Last night, Phish stepped into the spotlight at Moon Palace Cancún for the first performance of their highly-anticipated Riviera Maya 2025 series. The legendary jam quartet set off their eighth annual destination event with a change of form, extending the concert getaway’s traditional welcome set to a full show for the first time in its history. Through these two sets, the band eased into a new year of touring, wading through laid-back and breezy treatments of a litany of fan favorites and setting a joyous, relaxed mood for the run to follow.

Phish commenced their first non-New Year’s performance of 2025 with a stone-cold classic, molding “Sand” into a towering sound fortress on the beachfront and instantly locking into focused interplay with their well-traveled Farmhouse standout. This strong opener set the stage for another setting-appropriate entry with “Theme from the Bottom,” which shot out into the last lights of golden hour and recalled the elemental theming of the band’s 2024 Sphere residency. With “Free,” the quartet glowed through a patient, high-spirited treatment, then channelled this energy into the eclectic bass-forward funk of Mike Gordon’s Flying Games original “Mull.”

The band built to race pace as they stepped up to “Kill Devil Falls” and introduced some new shades to the evening’s sonic palette, dipping toes into references of beat-driven dance music and off-kilter nostalgic prog-rock, largely courtesy of synth whiz Page McConnell. They dialed back down to a simmer for a smoldering and restrained treatment of “Ghost,” leaning back on a deep pocket that fluttered away as they turned to the wide-eyed wonder of the recent favorite “Evolve.” With a resonant positive tone still ringing out over the crowd, the band once again proved its ability to turn on a dime as they sprinted through “Run Like an Antelope” to close the first frame.

After a quick siesta, Phish set out on the seas of the second set by staging Trey Anastasio’s 2020 TAB original “Set Your Soul Free.” An early dive into the deep end set a very different tone for the second set as all bandmates displayed an eagerness to let go of structure and get lost in some unrestrained jams. They held off on this impulse with a mellowed reimagining of Talking Heads’ jittery Fear of Music select “Cities,” then channelled their ambitions into “Light”: the memorable “Joy” entry changed shapes several times, flowing from gleaming precision, to gritty down-home blues-rock and off into some mind-bending odd-ends before veering into a classic, masterful “Mike’s Groove” sequence.

The band took a beat for the first time in the heavily-segued second set before bolting into “Twist,” a lively addition to the mix that showed the artists to be having just as much fan as the fans in the sand. This eclectic, bouncy romp tripped the group “Backwards Down the Number Line,” wrapping up the main portion of the performance with another high-spirited and comforting fan favorite.

Phish returned to the stage for an encore with a fun and twangy “My Sweet One,” then finally lit up a fiery “Carini” as the final song of the evening, leading into the remainder of the series with a stylistic cliffhanger reminiscent of the curveball “Saw It Again” on night one of Mondegreen. The finale arrived as a gentle reminder that even (or especially) during beloved concert traditions, Phish fans must expect the unexpected.

Phish will return to Moon Palace tonight for the second of four full shows in Riviera Maya 2025. Learn more about the event at phishrivieramaya.com, and read on for the full setlist from Wednesday night.

Find information on streaming Riviera Maya 2025 here.

Phish
Riviera Maya 2025
Moon Palace – Cancún, Quinatana Roo, Mexico
1/29/25
Set I: Sand, Theme From the Bottom, Free, Mull, Kill Devil Falls, Ghost, Evolve, Run Like an Antelope
Set II: Set Your Soul Free > Cities > Light > Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Twist > Backwards Down the Number Line
Encore: My Sweet One > Carini