Legendary rock band jamming back to Sphere in 2026

Phish’s Sphere production from April 2024 seemed far too elaborate to run just four shows. As Phishheads hoped and expected, the vaunted jam band is back for nine dates in 2026.

Those shows are set for April 16, 17, 18; 23, 24, 25 and 30; and May 1-2. Ticket presales run 10 a.m. Tuesday through 9 a.m. Monday Pacific time at tickets.phish.com. General on-sale is set for 10 a.m. Dec. 12 at Ticketmaster.com.

The band blew up the Bulbous Wonder in their premiere series, running April 18-21, 2024. The band brought its classic lineup of singer-guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, keyboardist Page McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman.

Yours truly had not seen a Phish show until April 18, so I took in two, the opener and the close. No songs were repeated over four performances exceeding three hours. No video tech was duplicated.

From that account: A long thread of vintage TVs descended on the band. Dozens, then hundreds, of multicolored, 1990s-era cars splashed across the screens. You feel twinkling stars at night, the bright daylight sunshine over a virtual, indoor lake.

A dozen lantern balloons rose from either side of the stage during “Leaves,” a wonderful moment in the first set.

Phish, customarily, split the night into two sets. The break seemed to defy traditional time measurement. Maybe it was 20 minutes, or 30, or an hour. No one seemed to care about time or space. Dozens of fans wafted though the concourse even as the band returned to the stage for its second 18-song set of the night.

As a fan told me during the 30-minute intermission of the first show, “Some people here have seen hundreds. But this is just blowing me away. This place is way cooler than I expected.” Anastasio concurred, from the stage, “You should see it this way, it’s pretty cool.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.