Photo by Sanjay Suchak via Phish’s Facebook page

Phish returned to Florida for the first time in a decade last night, performing at Jacksonville’s VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. The group made up for lost time, kicking off the show with “Tweezer” and using that reliable jam vehicle as one of the night’s conceptual themes.

“Tweezer,” which was also the first repeat of the brief tour thus far, moved into “Runaway Jim” and Phish then performed a standalone “Reba,” though they skipped the song’s concluding whistling section as they sometimes do. From there, they returned to “Tweezer” for a deep pocket of improvisation that found Mike Gordon teasing the “Reba” whistling section and slipped into the Phish-adopted Trey Anastasio Band song “Plasma”—then back into “Tweezer” and “Plasma” for a swirl of those two numbers. The Round Room standout “Pebbles and Marbles” and an unexpected segue from the wistful “Dirt” into the rocking “Chalk Dust Torture,” with Trey Anastasio moving to his mini-drum kit, closed the set.

For the second show in a row, their second set was a seamless offering, opening with the anthemic “Punch You in the Eye” and progressing into Talking Heads’ rhythmic classic
“Crosseyed and Painless,” their first take on the sample-enhanced Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of Halloween bit “Your Pet Cat” since August 16, 2024—which riffed on “Crosseyed”—and back to “Crosseyed and Painless.” The second part of the Remain in Light cover also returned to the Halloween theme with teases of both “The Dogs” and “Your Pet Cat.” The Vermont Quartet then offered up “Twist,” “Waves” and another 12 minutes of “Tweezer”—with Anastasio back on percussion for a bit—bringing the frame to a close with choice takes on “Harry Hood” and “Carini,” the latter of which featured a brief lyric change that referenced AI finishing a thesis and reprised a bit of “Crosseyed.”  

Phish opened their encore by honoring a birthday sign request, performing “Sleeping Monkey,” which they played just four shows ago and contained a bit of “Happy Birthday,” and a pairing of the seasonally appropriate “Ghost” and “Tweezer Reprise.”

Phish’s fall tour will continue at Huntsville, AL’s Orion Amphitheater tomorrow. As previously reported, this evening’s performance at the same venue has been postponed to Monday due to severe weather in the area.  

Here’s a look at last night’s setlist via Phish.net

Friday, October 9, VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, FL

SET 1: Tweezer > Runaway Jim, Reba[1], Tweezer -> Plasma -> Tweezer -> Plasma, Pebbles and Marbles, Dirt > Chalk Dust Torture[2]

SET 2: Punch You in the Eye > Crosseyed and Painless -> Your Pet Cat -> Crosseyed and Painless > Twist > Waves -> Tweezer[2] > Harry Hood > Carini

ENCORE: Sleeping Monkey, Ghost > Tweezer Reprise

[1] No whistling.

[2] Trey on mini drum kit.

Reba did not contain the whistling ending. Your Pet Cat was last performed August 16, 2024 (100 shows). Mike teased the Reba whistling ending in the second Tweezer. Trey teased the theme from The Twilight Zone in Crosseyed. Fish quoted Crosseyed in Your Pet Cat. Page teased The Dogs and Your Pet Cat in the second Crosseyed. Carini contained a Crosseyed tease from Trey (with lyrics from the band). Chalk Dust Torture and the fourth Tweezer featured Trey on mini drum kit. Happy Birthday was teased by Trey and Page and briefly sung by Trey in Sleeping Monkey.