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Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. It was an absolute thrill to talk to today’s guest, Michael Benjamin about July 6, 2012 at SPAC. It was a thrill for two main reasons: First, I knew I was talking with a real fan about a genuinely exciting show, because he drove over 6 hours to get to the venue, and crossed the border, since Michael lived in Canada at the time. 

But also, today’s conversation selfishly granted me a wish that I didn’t even know I had. Michael comes to us today from Stockholm, Sweden. I’ve had Canadian guests before, so Michael isn’t the first international guest, but I’ve never had a European guest! Attendance Bias has gone intercontinental! We are everywhere!

But a little more close to home: this show was the first night of a 3-night run at the beloved upstate New York venue during a peak year of Phish music. It’s a common thread of this podcast to wonder when Phish was actually “back” after they returned in 2009, and 2012 seems to be as good a year to suggest, for a number of reasons that Mike and I discuss in just a few minutes.   

So let’s join Mike to talk about touring costs, whether or not Ocelot is a bathroom songs, and when the band will return to Toronto as we discuss July 7, 2012 at SPAC.