Phish Unearth “Quadraphonic Toppling” on Night Two at Madison Square Garden, Trey Anastasio Sends Off the MetroCard with the MTA

Phish, photo by Rene Huemer

Phish returned to Madison Square Garden on Monday, Dec. 29, to deliver the second performance in their long-awaited 2025 New Year’s Eve residency. After an electrifying kickoff on Sunday, which featured a reawakened run through “Sleep” and a sprawling “Theme from the Bottom,” the foundational jamband continued to raise the stakes for their 18th-annual year-end series at the World’s Most Famous Arena on night two.

Phish stormed The Garden on Monday night with an exhilarating 10-minute take on Carini, which, in a dizzying haze of improvisation, blended fluidly into eight minutes of hard-funking “Plasma.” Frontman Trey Anastasio took the reins to steer his storied solo original back into a concluding passage of “Carini,” then, without missing a beat, the quartet dropped a gem on their fans with their third performance to date of “Quadraphonic Toppling.” The 25-year-old Siket Disc rarity was debuted at the band’s Big Cypress festival back in 1999, then resurrected only once afterwards in May 2022.

The atypical live selection “The Curtain With” led the band into another medley with “Bathtub Gin,” which together clocked in at over 25 minutes. The year’s second “NICU” bled into tight treatments of “Evolve” and “Mountains in the Mist,” giving the group a moment to build up their reserves for an exhaustive, radiant, 16-minute sing-along of “Fluffhead” that capped off the first frame.

Phish’s second set commenced with a variation on the classic “Mike’s Groove” sequence, swapping the tried and true connective midpoint of “I Am Hydrogen” for their tongue-in-cheek Kasvot Växt entry “The Final Hurrah”; taken together, the three-track opener stretched comfortably past the 28-minute mark. The band stopped for a moment before unfurling the evening’s centerpiece, a towering 20-minute standalone rendition of “A Wave of Hope” that came crashing down with peak after peak of inspiring high-spirited jamming.

For their last act, the quartet combined “Twenty Years Later,” their New Year’s Eve staple cover of TV On The Radio’s “Golden Age” and “Character Zero.” Following a break for applause, Phish returned to close out the second night of their New Year’s Eve residency with an upbeat encore of “The Lizards” and “Possum.”

Phish will return to Madison Square Garden tonight, thn close out their series with a grand finale on Dec. 31, which will bring their total count of MSG performances to 91. Find tickets and more information at phish.com, and stream the NYE series via livephish.com or nugs.net.

While Phish’s New Year’s Eve run continues to ramp up, Anastasio found a moment to lend his voice to a new set of subway announcements for the MTA, heralding the end of the MetroCard era; as the artist notes in a video posted today to his social channels, the iconic yellow card has been a vital part of New York’s cultural landscape since 1994, the same year Phish made their debut at MSG. Taken together with the band’s subway map-themed merch for the series, discerning fans could sense a hint at the thematic gag for their closing show.

Read on for the full setlist from Monday night.

Phish

Madison Square Garden

12/29/25

Set I: Carini -> Plasma > Carini, Quadrophonic Toppling, The Curtain With > Bathtub Gin, NICU, Evolve, Mountains in the Mist, Fluffhead

Set II: Mike’s Song > The Final Hurrah > Weekapaug Groove, A Wave of Hope, Twenty Years Later > Golden Age > Character Zero

Encore: The Lizards, Possum

Notes:

Quadrophonic Toppling was performed for the first time since May 27, 2022 (172 shows). Trey teased Sand during The Final Hurrah.

Setlist via phish.net.