Attendance Bias

Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. 

Today, we’re taking on one of the big ones: one of the most pivotal shows in the band’s 40 year career. Guest Jeff Paradise was at the first modern Phish Halloween show, October 31, 1994 at the Glens Falls Civic Center, where the band played a 3-set show that included the band’s first musical costume; a full cover of The Beatles’ White ...

Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein.

We’ve covered plenty of shows from the summer of 1999 on Attendance Bias but, lest we forget, there was a lot more to that year than a raucous summer tour. There was also a fall tour and a lesser-explored December tour, which took place entirely within the last month of the millennium. Today’s guest, Brent Summerville, chose one of the l...

Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias, or more really, the third and final episode of “This Time Will be Different: 15 Years Since Hampton.” I am your host, Brian Weinstein.

Today’s episode ends our look back at what led to Phish’s comeback at Hampton, 15 years ago on March 6, 2009. If you haven’t listened yet, previous episodes have covered The pressures that led to the hiatus in 2000, the multi-faceted hot...

Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias, or more accurately, episode two of “This Time Will be Different: 15 Years Since Hampton.” I am your host, Brian Weinstein.

Today, I join my two co-hosts: Scott Marks and Charlie Dirksen of Phish.net and the Mockingbird Foundation, to take a look at the 2.0 era, as well as Phish’s breakup in 2004. For those of you who listened to episode 1, it was clear but not obvious, ...

Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein.

The first week of March is always a conspicuous part of the year for me. No religious or secular holidays, no birthdays or wedding anniversaries in my social circle, but there is one series of dates that will always deserve some deep thoughts, if not any flowers, chocolate, or greeting cards: March 6-8 , 2009, when Phish returned to the ...

Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. 

If you’ll indulge my Grandpa-Simpson waxing poetic about the past for a second: when I was first getting into Phish, there were some shows (mostly from the early-90s) that lived in legend. There were stories about them, but it wasn’t so easy to find internet posts or first-person narratives about them. One of those shows was June 21, 19...

Do you remember where you were when you heard that Phish was returning to Hampton in 2009?

To celebrate 15 years since Hampton, I’d love to hear about where you were and what you thought when you found out about Hampton ‘09. I think it would be fun to put together an audio collage of fans’ memories of where they were, what they thought, and how they felt. If you are down to contribute, I have a set of directions and a samp...

Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. 

Halloween is, without question, one of the highest profile nights of the Phish calendar. All Phish Halloween shows are judged, compared and, for better or worse, claim their spot in the band’s mythology. But, as part of a pattern that’s been discussed on this podcast before, it’s not always the high profile night that gets the best show...

Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. 

I would guess that most of us have had the experience at a Phish show where the band is communicating to us, directly. Not communicating with the crowd; I mean, the members of the band are playing a show that speaks to our exact life experience. Whether or not you’ve ever made eye contact with Trey right before they leave the stage afte...

Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. 

I’ve mentioned a number of times on this podcast that, when I’m not spouting gibberish with strangers about Phish, I am a middle school teacher. I try not to offer too much personal information on the podcast for obvious reasons, but I am overly thrilled to say that, today, my personal life on the podcast and my professional l...

Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. It is another family affair today on the podcast, as we welcome father and son Adam and Jeff Winik to tell us about Phish’s show from July 22, 2017 at Madison Square Garden, also known as Strawberry Night of the Baker’s Dozen.

This is not the first time that a father and son have shared guest duties on Attendance Bias, nor is it the ...

Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Phish shows can be special for a million reasons, and there are times when “coincidence” doesn’t even begin to describe the crossroads of music, surroundings, timing, and information that all occurs at once and makes us feel as though something bigger must be at play. I shy away from the word “magic,” and I’m not the religious type,...

Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today’s guest–Derek Hill–picked an outstanding show from an underappreciated year: August 14, 2009 at the Meadows Music Center in Hartford, CT. Long-time listeners of Attendance Bias may remember that I recorded a mini-episode about the version of “Icculus” from this show, which was played right in the heart of the 2nd set. 

And that lea...

Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today, we are taking a ride on the the way-back machine as guest Jay Wilson takes us to the UNH college campus and tells us about his second show–April 11, 1994 at Sively Arena.

1994 was a pivotal year for the band in so many ways. In addition to this spring tour promoting Hoist–which was produced to be their most commercially viable...

Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. I am not a parent, but something that I frequently hear from my friends who have kids is that one of the best parts of being a parent is that you get to see the world, and the things you love, through the eyes of your kids. If that is a benefit of having kids, then today’s guests must be two of the happiest people in the world of Ph...

Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today’s guest is Sam Huber, from the Philadelphia area. Sam is an enthusiastic fan who picked a show where the crowd energy just seeps through the audience recording–July 5, 2013 at SPAC in Saratoga, NY.  

A few themes come up repeatedly in today’s conversation: how special SPAC is, peacefully surrounded by trees that seem to have an...

Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today’s guests are able to offer a unique insight into Phish’s music because they each play in a Phish cover band. Not only that, but they both play keyboards in separate Phish cover bands! 

Nate plays keyboards in a Phish coverband called Adam Knight’s Buried Alive, and Hannah plays keys for the Lumpy Heads. Both bands are based out...

Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today’s guest is Ryan Thompson who is here to tell us about Phish’s show from August 10, 1997 at Deer Creek. The fall 1997 tour is the one that is better known, but there were a lot of quirks, idiosyncrasies and highlights in the summer of that . 8/10/97 features all of this and more.

When I listened to this show, I understood almost...