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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today’s guest is Ian from Montana, who is here to tell about his experience seeing Phish on July 24, 2015 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA where he went from being a casual 3.0 Phish fan to a Phish family man. The show marked a turning point for him and what a Phish concert experience could be like.

2015 was a transformative year for Phish. Not only did Trey kick off the year with the legendary Fare Thee Well Grateful Dead celebration, but the summer tour began with nearly a full album’s worth of new material, but each member of the band came ready to play with an array of new effects and sounds that seemed to gel right from the get-go at the tour opener in Oregon. Today’s show was the next stop on the tour, and the band capitalized on their auspicious opening just a few days before.

While the show was a mixed bag in terms of jamming, Ian was there with his whole family–his wife and his two young children. As we discuss, taking kids to a Phish show can be a contentious topic in our small community, but he pulled it off with aplomb, and this was the show they were all meant to see. So let’s join Ian to talk about west coast crowds, Round Room, and Bill Graham as we discuss July 24, 2015 at Shoreline Amphitheater in California.

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. By now, everyone recognizes just how special last summer’s Mondegreen festival was, inclusive of the music and the overall experience. Today’s guest, Seamus Gallivan had a premonition of how special the festival would be to him, and emailed me several weeks ahead of time and asked me if he could kind of reserve the festival, to come on the podcast and talk about it after it was played.

No one has ever asked to reserve a show before, so I wasn’t sure how to respond. I told Seamus to hold off and see how the festival went, what his experience was, and what there would be to talk about. But in the end, Seamus was right. There was plenty to discuss. While I did release a full-festival recap soon after the festival was over, Seamus got back in touch and asked if he could tell his story about night three of Mondegreen: August 17, 2024. Certainly to both of us, it was the musical highlight of the weekend.

And you can hear it in our voices during today’s conversation. Seamus came prepared with tons of notes and observations, many of which mirrored mine, demonstrating that we were on the same page. You can even hear our voices rise and we start to speak faster and faster as we approach some of the night’s musical highlights. 

And, believe me, there’s no shortage of highlights. Let’s join Seamus to talk about Trey’s kooky guitar tones, the San Francisco Bay Area, and much more as we discuss night 3 of the Monegreen Festival from August 17, 2024 The Woodlands in Dover, Delaware.

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Get ready for Wednesday's full episode about 8/17/24 in Dover, DE with Seamus Gallivan! In the meantime, Attendance Bias listeners called in to share some of their favorite memories, and odd musings, from this past summer's Mondegreen Festival! Kill a few minutes in anticipation of Wednesday's full episode. Enjoy!

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. If you’re a regular listener of the podcast, you know the typical format. But I love it when a guest has an idea and we have to think a little out of the box so that the guest can tell his or her story while still keeping the familiar segments of the show. Today, Ryan Miners helped make that happen. Rather than choosing one specific show or jam, Ryan wanted to talk about two sequences that both involve the insane instrumental, “Buried Alive:” The first one is Buried Alive into Poor Heart from November 9, 1996 at the Palace at Auburn Hills, and the second one is Buried Alive into AC/DC Bag from August 11, 2024 at Bethel Woods. Two Buried Alive segues, roughly 28 years apart. 

But even though we didn’t cover an entire show, there was no shortage of content for Ryan and and I to cover. Between the 28-year gap of these two segues, we touched on a tremendous amount of information, not hesitating to go off on tangents where, at one point, Ryan flips the script and puts me on the hot seat!!

There’s something about a good Phish segue that brings out the best in the audience, and Ryan was able to explain exactly what made these two so special. But I don’t want to spoil it. Let’s join Ryan to talk about the Wetlands Preserve, the history of Deer Creek, and what it means to hear the line “Thank you Mr. Miner,” as we discuss segues from Buried Alive from 1996 and 2024.  

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Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. While we’ve spent a good amount of time on Attendance Bias discussing the fall 1995 tour, there was a short southeast swing after the Quadrophenia Halloween show that we’ve never touched on, and that I have to admit, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to. After Halloween in Chicago, the band took an 8-day break and then played three nights in Atlanta before 4 consecutive nights traveling and playing shows in the state of Florida. Today’s guest, Matthew Wheelwright is here to tell about one of those shows: November 14, 1995 at the University of Central Florida Arena in Orlando.

Matthew is an ideal guest to tell us about this outstanding show from fall 95: he’s seen a ton of shows since 1990, he is a knowledgeable fan who can tell about the show both in real time and in context of Phish history, and is just as excited to talk about the show today in 2024 as he was 19 years ago. 

Not only does the audience recording from this show sound pristine, but there’s plenty to highlight: a psychedelic version of “Free,” a fully acoustic “I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome,” and the best known part of this show: an insane sequence the kicks off with “Stash” and goes in and out of several segments before closing with “You Enjoy Myself.” 

But all that just scratches the surface. Let’s join Matthew to talk about dynamics, clean cut college kids, and why you should thank a taper today, as we discuss Phish’s show from November 14, 1995 at The UCF Arena in Orlando.

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

Today’s guest, Cris Coey, chose to speak about Phish’s show at the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky from November 7, 1996. It’s a show that is famous in Phish history for mostly one reason–the long, multi-faceted version of Bathtub Gin that is jammed out in the middle of the 2nd set. The has been released twice on soundboard by LivePhish, and for good reason: widely known as the “Rupp Gin,” the jam perfectly encapsulates everything that was great about Phish in 1996. There are innumerable great Phish jams, but this is a rare one that gets a specific name based on its location. Yeah, one of those jams.

However, this episode is not just about that Bathtub Gin. As Cris and I discuss, Phish had a lot to offer in 1996 as they embraced their newfound dominance in arenas and large-scale venues, coast to coast. They were done with theaters and the occasional arena. With Billy Breathes demonstrating their maturing songwriting skills and expertise in the studio, as well as having conquered the abstract rock madness of 1995, Phish had one foot in the past and one in the future, when they had yet to destroy America. Although the Bathtub Gin is the centerpiece of the show, there’s much more to it.

As we talked, it became obvious that Cris is a fan’s fan. He’s obviously attended a lot of great Phish shows in his time, and we had a lot in common, but also some disagreements in our opinions. It was really a pleasure to hear some new points of view when I took my opinions for granted. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

Let’s join Cris to chat about Frankenstein, the YEM vocal jam, and whether or not northeast Ohio is Phish country as we break down November 7, 1996 at The Rupp Arena in Lexington.

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. We’ve discussed several shows from the legendary Baker’s Dozen on Attendance Bias, but this is the first episode where we talk about the Baker’s Dozen’s little brother: a show from Phish’s 7-show run in the summer of 2023. Today’s guest is Lucas Jordan who came on the podcast to talk about his experience at Madison Square Garden on August 1, 2023-the fourth show of that seven show residency.

Now, it’s a bit unfair to mention this show in the same breath as the Baker’s Dozen, especially since Lucas wasn’t a big Phish fan back in 2017. In the beginning of our conversation, it was hard to shake the comparisons. But as we went on, it’s clear that the 2023 residency could stand on its own. This wasn’t Lucas’ first Phish show, but it was the one where he truly became absorbed in the impact the live scene can have on a fan, penetrating his sense of what is possible at a live concert. 

But that’s Lucas’ story to tell. Let’s join him to talk about Chicago venue, the rarity of Timber Ho, who’s got the best voice in the band, and more as we discuss August 1, 2023 at Madison Square Garden.

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today’s guest is Katie, but she is probably better known as The Phunky Witch around the Phish Twitter community. For today’s episode, Katie chose a stunning, psychedelic segment from Phish’s visit to the Sphere in Las Vegas: “Theme from the Bottom into Split Open and Melt” from April 19, 2024. 

Even though the band’s 4-show stand at The Sphere happened fairly recently, I just knew it was a matter of time before a guest chose to talk about the music from that run. From any perspective, The enormity of The Sphere seems to be the perfect venue to discuss attendance bias. Is it possible to convey the experience of being at The Sphere in words? Or does one have to be in attendance to understand what it’s like? Luckily, Katie chose a segment of the show where we can hear the musical magic and she does a great job explaining why it was special to be there.

So let’s join Katie to talk about red eye flights, the Nassau Coliseum, and black eyes as we discuss “Theme from the Bottom into Split Open and Melt” from April 19, 2024 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.