Attendance Bias

Latest Episodes:

"Tweezer" from 8/1/21 @ Alpharetta w/ Nate C. and Hannah R. Sep 27, 2023

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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 of the Carolinas and play around the southeast. So if you’re a Phish fan from Ascheville to Atlanta, keep your eyes out for Adam Knight’s Buried Alive and the Lumpy Heads.

It may not be a shock to find out that both Nate and Hannah run in the same circles. As a result, Nate took Hannah to her first Phish shows–July 31 and August 1 of 2021; Phish’s first tour back after the postponed 2020 summer tour. While both shows are excellent, Nate and Hannah agreed on one major highlight to discuss today: The band’s 30-minute version of Tweezer that was played on night 2: August 1, 2021.

A major highlight of the year, and possibly of the band’s career, this Tweezer journeys all over the place, with ambience, straight rock, funky start/stop jamming, and more. So let’s join Nate and Hannah to talk about why Foam is easier to play than you think, getting some alone time on the lawn, and much more as we discuss “Tweezer” from August 1, 2021 in Alpharetta, Georgia.

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8/10/97 @ Deer Creek w/ Ryan Thompson Sep 13, 2023

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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 immediately why Ryan chose it. Aside from the musical highlights, which we discuss at length, the famed “cow funk” isn’t all quite there, but we see the inklings of it. In addition, this wild and wacky second set makes this show perfect for Attendance Bias; it’s one of those shows where the second set only really makes sense if you were there. Summer ‘97 had a few of those moments in the years before webcasting when the listener had to picture what was happening on stage because the audio recording alone couldn’t do it justice.

So let’s join Ryan Thompson to talk about Tinley Park, King Crimson, and Phish’s show from August 10, 1997 at Deer Creek.

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6/30/19 @ Camden w/ Jordan Sheldon Aug 30, 2023

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Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. If you have a pet, especially a dog or a cat, you may want to bring him up to the speakers for today’s episode. That is because today’s guest is Jordan Sheldon, the founder and operator of Dog Faced Toys–the online pet shop for Phish themed dog toys. For today’s show, Jordan chose to tell his story of being surrounded by friends at a high point in his life’s journey: June 30, 2019 at Camden.

You all know that I love dogs, so when Jordan’s business began to pop up in my social media feed, I knew that I had to have him on the show. Really, it was pictures of his Corgi, Butters, that convinced me.

All joking aside, Jordan picked a show that exemplified the entire summer 2019 tour, and also expanded upon a previous episode with friend of the podcast Alyssa Poland, who chose a show from the same 3-night run. It was a tremendous amount of fun, and Jordan clearly has a lot of passion and excitement for this show that had an old-school setlist, yet simultaneously presented some of Phish’s best new material at the time. So let’s join Jordan Sheldon of Dog Faced Toys to talk about squeak toys, rarities, and taking the ferry back to Philly as we discuss Phish’s show from June 30, 2019 at Camden.

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Three-Year Anniversary Episode: Lightning Round! Aug 23, 2023

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10/23/21 @ Chula Vista w/ Andy and Dave from "Rock Docs" Aug 09, 2023

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Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. As a podcast host, I am always on the lookout for new podcasts and I recently found out about one that I really enjoy, and so I reached out to the hosts to come on Attendance Bias. Luckily, of the two hosts, one of them is a big Phish fan, while the other is…well, less so. I’m never one to exclude, so today, I welcome the co-hosts of the podcast Rock Docs: Andy and Dave. For today’s episode, Andy chose to tell about his homecoming show: October 23, 21 at Chula Vista.

Rock Docs is a podcast where our two hosts choose a music documentary (not always rock and roll), and provide an extensive review of it. It combines two of my favorite interests: music and movies, taking a look at both some of my longtime favorites like Festival Express and The Last Waltz, as well as introducing me to new music and movies that I otherwise would never pay attention to. Rock Docs is available wherever you find your podcasts.

It was also fun that, while Andy had emotional ties and experiences to today’s show at Chula Vista, Dave is the first Attendance Bias guest who is not a Phish fan but still listened to the nearly-3 hour show and was able to contribute and outsider’s view to balance all of the gushing and hyperbole from your resident fans. So let’s join Andy and Dave of Rock Docs to talk about Garth Brooks, light funk, and much more as we discuss Phish’s show from October 23, 2021 at Chula Vista.

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MSG N6-7 RECAP: w/Ben Fortgang Aug 06, 2023

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It's over! The Lucky 7 shows of Phish at MSG over the summer of 2023 has come and gone...and BOY do we have a lot to say about it. Join me and friend of the podcast Ben Fortgang as we review the last two nights of the MSG run, and the summer residency as a whole.
Thank you for listening and regular episodes of Attendance Bias will resume this week. Cheers!

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MSG N4-5 RECAP: w/Ryan Storm Aug 03, 2023

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It's mid-week and we are now officially more than halfway through Phish's 7-night run at Madison Square Garden. I get the feeling that we could ALL use a day off, and what better thing is there to do on your day of than...talk about Phish?!
Ryan Storm of Storm Sound was gracious enough to take time on his day off to recap the Tuesday and Wednesday night MSG shows! It's another quick and dirty recap with no edits, music clips, or extraneous info, but plenty of uses of the word "energy" when discussing the Garden.
Enjoy your day off and have a great end of the run!

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MSG RECAP: Nights 1-3 w/JW and Skinny from "Stub Me Down" Aug 01, 2023

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It's only been a day since Phish finished their first three nights at MSG! A lot went down, and JW and Skinny from the Stub Me Down podcast are here to recap all of it!
This was a quick and dirty recap, so no edits, no Lightning Round, no music clips, etc. Just three guys giving our thoughts on nights 1-3 at MSG.
Enjoy and see you for round 2!

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TAB from 4/29/19 @ Brooklyn Bowl w/ Jordan Hoffman Jul 26, 2023

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Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today’s guest is entertainment writer and contributing editor, Jordan Hoffman. I first became of Jordan through his twitter feed, and we tried for a while to set up a show and a date to record. After a while, Jordan chose what is, at the time of this recording, chose the second live performance NOT from Phish. But as we discuss early in the episode, it is Phish-adjacent: today we’re talking about TAB–the Trey Anastasio Band–and their show from April 29, 2019 at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg.

When Jordan and I began speaking, his enthusiasm and excitement to tell his story about this show was immediately apparent. Normally, I like to think of myself as being pretty quick on my feet when discussing Phish, and although TAB is just one degree of separation, there have been so many iterations of the band and so many songs I don’t know that I had to let Jordan take the wheel for much of the conversation.And man, I am so glad that was the case. Jordan takes us on an emotional and always entertaining journey about how he found his way through trauma and hope to end up just a few rows back from one of his favorite bands at the legendary New York City club.

So let’s join Jordan to talk about They Live, Peaches en Regalia, and Bonnie Raitt as we discuss the Trey Anastasio Band’s show from April 29, 2019 at Brooklyn Bowl.

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"Tweezer>Izabella" 12/6/97 @ Auburn Hills w/ Bill Stadler Jul 12, 2023

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Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today’s guest is Bill Stadler who came to discuss one of the best jams from one of the best tours: “Tweezer” into “Izabella” from December 6, 1997 at The Palace at Auburn Hills, Michigan.

When it comes to the fall of 1997, there’s no shortage of shows or jams to break down, and between all of the Phish podcasts out there, lots of it has been covered by fans. That said, most guests on Attendance Bias have chosen entire shows from this tour, and not so many specific jams. This one-two punch that opened the second set at Auburn Hills provides enough music and stylistic variety to carry a full conversation about this time in Phish history, and much more!

Accordingly, Bill came correct. You all know that I’m a teacher and my favorite kind of Attendance Bias guest is the guest who comes prepared. You can’t see it, but Bill came with notes, statistics, dates, and personal history, all ready to talk about this gig, this jam, and who he was at the time that it was played.

So let’s join Bill to talk about Page’s setup, the 1992 Santana tour, and much more as we discuss the “Tweezabella” from Phish’s show on December 6, 1997 at The Palace at Auburn Hills.

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