Attendance Bias

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2025 Venue Preview: The Moody Center, Austin, TX w/Dianna Hank May 12, 2025

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. After two days off and a very very long drive, we are at the third stop of our tour: The Moody Center in Austin, Texas for June 27 and 28. It’s rare that Phish stops in Texas, rare that they stop in Texas for the summer, and even more rare that they’ll play in Austin–it’s been about 15 years since the capitol city entertained the band and its fans.

Today’s guest, Dianna Hank (known in social media circles as Dianna 2Ns) lives in Austin and is thrilled for Phish to come back to the offbeat city and help keep it weird. If Austin is a city you haven’t gotten around to visiting, Dianna makes a strong case for why you should make your way to the City of the Violet Crown, for Phish or otherwise.

While Phish has a respectable history in Austin, including an appearance on the long-running PBS show Austin City Limits, and an appearance at the related festival, this 2025 weekend run is primed to be the best. This is the band’s first time playing the new, air-conditioned, indoor venue for a two-night run with guaranteed pre-show and post-show live music to be found, great vibes and delicious food in abundance, and more.

So whether you’re on tour, a Texas native, or flying into town just for the weekend, Dianna is here to give us the lowdown on June 27 and 28 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

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2025 Venue Preview: The Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA w/ Emily Bush May 08, 2025

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. We are fully on tour by now, having visited Manchester, New Hampshire and now on the 9-and-a-half-hour drive to the Pete–that is the Petersen Events Center, on the University of Pittsburgh campus–in Pittsburgh, PA. For whatever reason, the band decided to skip Star Lake in Burgettstown in favor of this modest-size collegiate arena that has played host to Phish twice in recent memory.

But if you’re on tour and decide to skip Pittsburgh because it’s out of the way, you’re missing out on a whole lot. Today’s guest, Emily Bush, bleeds black and gold. With deep family roots in Pittsburgh, and an understanding of the city’s amenities and history, she offers an insider’s guide to what Phish fans should see, do, eat, drink, and expect for the first single-night stop of the tour.

Although I don’t think a visit to Pittsburgh is in the cards for me this summer, there were points during today’s conversation, when I wanted to suggest to my wife that we move to the Steel City. After I got off the call with Emily I started to Google some of the apartment complexes and neighborhoods she mentions, and although I’m staying in New York for the foreseeable future, moving to Pittsburgh is not a 0% option, regardless of how Phish plays this summer.

So let’s get excited for the second stop of the tour: June 24, as Emily gives us the low down on The Petersen Events Center, and Pittsburgh as a whole in today’s episode.

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2025 Venue Preview: SNHU Arena, Manchester, NH w/ Casey and Jenn May 05, 2025

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Hi everybody and welcome to the first episode of this new series of Attendance Bias: over the next few weeks, we are going to take a look at venue Phish is going to play on their upcoming 2025 summer tour; from old favorites like SPAC and The Mann, to first-time visits for Phish, like Folsom Field and Forest Hills Stadium.

Today, I am joined by returning guest Chris Casey and his partner Jenn, both New Hampshire natives, to give us a local view of the SNHU Arena, or the “SNU,” at which Phish will open their summer tour with a 3-night run on June 20, 21, and 22.

Phish doesn’t have a big history at the venue, but Chris and Jenn have a long history in Manchester, and New Hampshire as a whole. So, what follows is a mix of a venue preview and a travelogue. I hope you enjoy it and look forward to our previews of other venues on the summer tour.

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Albany 2000 w/Brad Rosen Apr 30, 2025

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Not many guests have come on the podcast to talk about anything from the year 2000. It’s kind of a lost year when most fans consider the tail end of 1.0. 1999 gets a lot of love, Big Cypress is the unquestioned greatest of all time, but what about those 52 shows that capped the 1.0 era?

Today’s guest, Brad Rosen, joins us today all the way from Israel to help plug in that gap. Brad went to a bunch of shows on the 2000 fall tour, and if he had his way, I have a feeling that he would want to have an episode about every single one. But we were able to whittle today’s guest spot down to highlights from the Albany 2000 run: September 8 and 9 2000 at the Knickerbocker Arena, known then as the Pepsi Center.

Phish was just about a month away from their first hiatus, but this 2-night stand presents a band that has it all, with maybe the edges beginning to fray as they drift from one jam to another with few boundaries in sight. Throughout the show, you can hear the crowd responding to the band with ceaseless energy, although we’ll also hear Brad explain how, if there were few boundaries in the music, things were definitely fraying in the lot scene.

So give Farmhouse another spin, make some room for Michael Ray, and don’t forget to stop at Hershey as Brad and I discuss September 8 and 9, 2000 in Albany.

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8/9/24 @ Bethel Woods w/ Jeffrey Rosenberg Apr 23, 2025

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. At Dick’s in 2013, Phish famously used the setlist to spell out the phrase: “Most Shows Spell Something.” It was a good goof at the time, but it also inspired thousands of fans to take the message literally and inspect the band’s song choices at any given show and, sometimes, craft a motif, theme, or narrative that might change a listener’s perspective and they would see and hear the show through a completely different lens than usual.

Today’s guest, Jeffrey Rosenberg tells us that at least one show spelled something. Jeffrey chose to discuss August 9, 2024 at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. Where most of us would hear a standard-great Phish show that night, Jeffrey heard meditations on love, action, addiction, recovery, and more. At times, today’s conversation may sound like the podcast version of the Always Sunny in Philadelphia Pepe Silvia meme, but as you listen, I hope you can hang with Jeffrey and I, whether or not you think the theory holds water.

But in the end, that’s what Attendance Bias is for: every fan gets their own story, and every fan’s perspective is valid. As you’ll hear me say a few times during today’s episode, I’m grateful that Jeffrey came on the show to share his perspective, because he was able to talk about songs that I’ve heard literally hundreds of times and, with a few sentences, provide a new way for me to consider the lyrics. It stuff like that, that makes this podcast such a joy. I hope you feel the same way after today’s episode.

So let’s join Jeffrey to talk about New York tornadoes, summer 2000, and The Mary Tyler Moore show as we discuss August 9, 2024 at Bethel Woods.

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"DWD>Carini" from 12/29/13 @ MSG w/ Rachael Wesley Apr 08, 2025

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today, we have a returning guest: published author Rachael Wesley, who–as of today–has released her memoir, “Second Set Chances,” published by Vine Leaves Press.

The last time Rachael was on Attendance Bias, about three years ago, she was working on the sixth draft of what would become Second Set Chances. At the time, she didn’t have much to say about the memoir, as it was still very much a work in progress. Instead, we focused on her favorite genre of writing–Creative Nonfiction–and we went deep into talking about the version of “Simple” from 8/29/14 at Dick’s.

But this time is a bit different. Rachael is back, and Second Set Chances is available at her website, RachaelWesley.com and at VineLeavesPress.com. You’ll hear how Rachael took these last three years to make her story become a fully published work. Just as importantly for THIS podcast, you’ll also hear us break down Down with Disease into Carini from December 29. 2013 at Madison Square Garden; an incredible sequence that capped off the best year of 3.0 to that point, and two jams that hold up 12 years later.

So let’s join Rachael to talk about Second Set chances, DNA strands, and the best flavors of La Croix as we discuss Down with Disease into Carini from Madison Square Garden on December 29, 2013.

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"Simple" from 7/27/24 @ Alpine Valley w/ Andy Rapacz Apr 02, 2025

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Since their return to the stage in 2009, all the way to today, Phish has continually proven that they still have the goods–that they’ve avoided the trap of becoming a nostalgia act. They’ve proven it in a number of ways: reinventing themselves as different bands for Halloween, releasing several albums, changing their touring setup to allow for more multi-night runs, or the tried-and-true method of keeping fans interested: playing extremely long and exploratory jams that go down as some of the most perfect examples of extended improvisation in music history.

Today’s guest, Andy Rapacz, picked one of those jams to discuss today: “Simple” from July 27, 2024 at Alpine Valley. Starting from the ashes of a typical Sigma Oasis that opened the 2nd set, this Simple is easily in the conversation for the title of the best version of the song ever played. Just as impressive as the music, the fact that it was played 40 years into the band’s career adds a certain psychological boost to the idea that it was played at all!

Andy is a Wisconsin native, so he gives plenty of background context to Alpine Valley, what it was like to see such an impressive jam in his home venue, and the fact that he’s an exercise physiologist who deals with neurological dysfunction adds a whole new dimension to the discussion about how Phish’s sound makes you feel. So let’s join Andy to talk about Halloween 1994, how time is relative, and steep lawns as we discuss Simple from July 27, 1994 at Alpine Valley.

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6/9/90 @ The Wetlands w/ Josh Gertz Mar 19, 2025

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Hi everybody, and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. You know, prom night is full of cliches: carnations, gowns, tuxedos, slow dances, limousines, and so on. Now, take all those tropes and add an unexpected twist: your afterparty is taking your limo with a bunch of friends into Manhattan to see Phish play two sets at the hottest live music club in the city. And THAT is the story of today’s guest, Josh Gertz, who is here to tell us about his prom afterparty: Phish’s show on June 9, 1990 at the Wetlands Preserve. My prom afterparty was to go to the Limelight Nightclub and then to Wildwood, New Jersey for the weekend. I’d trade that for Josh’s experience in a heartbeat.
Phish was in a transitional period in 1990; they were still composing their multi-part nerd-rock opuses, but were also poking out of the comfort of the northeast, slowly growing their audience while they infused their strange band personality with musical virtuosity. It’s arguably for the better that Josh didn’t know what he was getting himself into, because even 35 years ago, the band was figuratively and literally pushing their boundaries.

This incredible music all played out against the backdrop of the Wetlands Preserve. Talking about lower Manhattan is a constant refrain in today’s conversation; Josh is originally from Northern New Jersey, and I’m originally from Long Island, so two households, both alike in dignity, going to the city to see live jamband music bore some common talking points. And that was just the beginning of our conversation.

So bring your change of clothes, cool off if you need to, and give Trey a high five as Josh Gertz tells us about Phish at the Wetlands on June 9, 1990.

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10/30/10 @ Boardwalk Hall w/ Karina Rykman! Mar 12, 2025

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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 kickass bassist, singer, songwriter, bandleader, musical omnivore and big-time Phishhead, Karina Rykman.

If you’ve been paying attention to the jamband and jamband-adjacent scene for any time over the past 5 years or so, or maybe a bit longer than that, I imagine that you’ve heard of, seen the same of, or been lucky enough to hear Karina Rykman. She performs live with her guitarist and effects-man Adam November and drummer Chris Corsico as a psychedelic bass-led power trio that will blow you away. For those of you who are on a strict Phish diet and may not be familiar with Karina, you should be aware that she has played bass onstage with Mike Gordon in several different configurations and, as of this episode, is preparing to open for him in New Orleans during Jazz Fest. In addition, she has roots with Trey Anastasio and his family going all the way back to her middle school days, and Trey co-produced her debut album, Joyride.

Karina and I cover a lot of topics in today’s conversation, including our experiences in New York City, her influences in terms of music and life, what it was like to record her album, and her upcoming gig at Webster Hall in New York City on Saturday, May 10. But fear not: there are Phish references and chatter about the band sprinkled throughout our conversation.

Also, it wouldn’t be an Attendance Bias episode if the guest didn’t pick out a special Phish experience, and Karina chose a doozie: October 30, 2010 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City where Phish truly blew everyone’s minds with a Tweezerfest that weaved bits and pieces of Led Zeppelin songs throughout.

But there’s so much more to it than that. Let’s join Karina to talk about songwriting craft, rocks off boat cruises, and the best place in Manhattan for smoked salmon as we discuss October 30, 2010 in Atlantic City, and much more.

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8/6/24 @ Grand Rapids w/ Patty Gambill Feb 26, 2025

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. I do my best to be modest about this podcast, but I have to say: today’s episode has pretty much everything that makes this show a joy to listen to and produce: an enthusiastic guest who came with plenty to say about herself and the show she chose, a Phish show that provided plenty of rabbit holes to go down, comparisons between Phish’s past and present, and of course, a high-profile guest star that caused a bit of controversy in the Phish community after the show. Today’s wonderful guest is Patty Gambill, and the show she chose to discuss is from August 6, 2024 at Van Andel Arena, in Grand Rapids Michigan.

This show, and the next night were Phish’s first shows at the minor league hockey arena since 1998, and an indoor show during summer tour as well. There were plenty of signs to predict that these would be special shows, but the summer of 2024 seemed to shake something loose in both the band and the fanbase, so it’s hard to call any specific show special, when almost every show was special. We try to get to the heart of it but I think that this will be an ongoing conversation for a long while.

But enough from me. Let’s join Patty to talk about special guests, bluegrass, and more as we August 6, 2024 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.

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