In celebration of Phish’s current run on the West Coast (April 18 to 27), the all-volunteer and fan-run Mockingbird Foundation has announced that it is sending unsolicited $2,000 Tour Grants to a music program in each of the four cities in which the band is performing:

• Aki Kurose Middle School Academy of Seattle, WA (near Climate Pledge Arena, April 18 and 19) for general supplies, literature, organization supplies, and a handful of instruments
• Jefferson High School of Portland, OR (near Moda Center, April 20) for formal performance attire
• Hunters Point Family of San Francisco, CA (near Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, April 22 and 23) for tickets to live music events, bus or van rentals, guest teaching, & supplies
• LAMusArt of Los Angeles, CA (near Hollywood Bowl, April 25, 26, and 27) for instructors who teach lessons, lead rehearsals, plan curriculum, and provide student assessment and mentorship

This makes a total of 226 Mockingbird Tour Grants, and the 31st instance of unsolicited Tour Grants, an effort that now totals $301,000, which is 11.5% of all disbursements made by the foundation. These grants are part of a long-standing effort to help support music education in the local communities which have welcomed and hosted the Phish community for the band’s performances.

Set 1: Simple -> Punch You in the Eye > Gumbo > Reba, The Well > David Bowie, Character Zero

Set 2: Sample in a Jar > Tweezer > Lonely Trip, Crosseyed and Painless > Pillow Jets, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Wading in the Velvet Sea, First Tube

Last night marked Phish’s fifteenth show at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (“BGCA”) and first since 2018, having opted for Shoreline, Chase, and the Greek as the Bay Area stops between this week’s run and Phish’s last visit. For those unaware, there’s an odd gap in Bay Area venue capacities, with the Greek, Frost, and BGCA at around 8-8.5k, but the next level up – aside from Concord Sleep Train Pavilion (capacity 12,500), where I promise you no one wants to see a show – seats closer to 20k with venues like Chase Center, Oracle Arena, and Shoreline Amphitheatre. Rather than shutting out tons of fans in the 8k tier with weekend shows, or underselling the next tier up, Phish has played weekday shows the last four trips to BGCA (2014, 2016, 2018, and 2025). It was a beautiful, crisp spring day in San Francisco - I headed into work in the East Bay in the late morning and left before 4 pm for the city to drop off some birthday beers and give a ride to some friends who had gotten early entry. I crushed a burrito and headed back towards the venue before 6 pm, and found a parking spot three blocks from Civic Center Plaza and made my way towards the venue with those good pre-show jitters - or maybe it was the beans from my burrito? Hard to say.