Attendance Bias

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I just want to remind everyone that if you enjoy the podcast, you can show your support by leaving a rating and review of it wherever you get your podcasts. You can also visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can to keep the podcast going. Now, onto today’s episode:

It may be too early to say we’re so glad it’s Christmas Vacation, but we are lucky to welcome an actress from that classic movie today on Attendance Bias. Today’s guest is none other than Ellen Latzen, who you’ve almost certainly seen as Ruby Sue in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, as well as Ellen, the young daughter of Michael Douglas and Anne Archer in the 1987 thriller, Fatal Attraction. She’s currently looking to get back into the movie business, and she just happens to be a big Phish fan.

For today’s episode, Ellen and I speak about her acting career, her efforts to get back into the industry, and of course, her special show for today: July 26, 2013 at The Gorge! A show at The Gorge obviously includes grandeur and novelty, but most importantly, it was also a birthday show for Ellen!

What I enjoyed most about this conversation, in addition to the Phish nerding out, is that Ellen and I disagreed on a number of Phish topics–which songs are bathroom songs, are there truly any songs that every fan likes, and more. I love meeting fans that have tastes and opinions contrary to my assumptions, and combined with the beautiful synergy of Ellen’s experiences in this show (I’ll let her describe it–I don’t want to give anything away), this was a conversation I’ll remember for a long time.

There’s so much more, but even talking to Ellen made me shit bricks…excuse me, shit rocks. Let’s hear it all from her, as we go back to The Gorge on July 26, 2013.

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Before we get started, I want to remind you that you can support Attendance Bias by going to http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donating anything you can manage. You can also leave a rating or a review of the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Now, onto today’s episode:

If my calculations are correct, this episode should air right after Phish’s fall tour, and that means that we are right in the middle of Spooky Season. The NFL is shaking out, the MLB playoffs should be in full swing, definitely time for soup and crockpots, scary movies on TV, and of course: Halloween! If you’re anything like me, Halloween is closely associated with Phish. No matter which is your favorite Halloween show, each one has something special to offer and we’ve heard about many of them on this podcast.

But today is a bit unique. For this episode, Phish cover band, Adam Knight’s Buried Alive, out of Charleston, South Carolina, is here to promote their upcoming show on Halloween at the Charleston Pour House, during which they will cover the entire set of Phish’s 2014 Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House, compete with sound effects, projections, and more. Every member of the band couldn’t make it today, but three out of four ain’t band.

But in a twist, the jams the band selected to discuss today isn’t that 2014 Halloween show. Instead, Nate, Adam, and Jonathan are here to discuss selections from July 11, 2025 at the North Charleston Coliseum: a mammoth, 34-minute “Down With Disease,” and the rarity “Sightless Escape” that followed soon after in the second set. Now, keep in mind that three professional musicians will be talking Phish today, so if your musical vocabulary is limited to saying stuff like, “Dude, that jam was sick!,” or: “Trey is killing it right now!” don’t worry. We did our best to keep it on the level.

So let’s join most of Adam Knight’s Buried Alive to talk about synthesizers, major key jams, and their Halloween show at the Charleston Pour House while we discuss highlights from July 11, 2025.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I wanted to remind you that you can support Attendance Bias by rating and reviewing the show wherever you get your podcasts, you can follow Attendance Bias on social media, and you can visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can. Now, onto the show:

Here we are at the end of this venue preview series for the 2026 Phish Fall Tour. I suppose when touring means 8 shows in 4 stops, it goes pretty quick. By now, we’ve heard about Atlantic City, Richmond, and Jacksonville. Today, we wrap it all up in the deep south: October 10 and 11 at the Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Alabama.

Today’s guest, Bobby Shirley, is an Attendance Bias all-star. Bobby first came on the podcast with his son, Oliver, to tell a great story about when they saw Phish at the Orion in 2023. Bobby and Oliver also co-host their own podcast, the Phish Phry, where father and son listen, discuss, rate, and sometimes disagree about Phish albums, shows, and songs. It’s a delightful listen.

So if you’ve listened to Attendance Bias for a while, you’ve heard Bobby before. Today, he guides us through what it’s like to see a show at the Orion in Huntsville, Alabama, but also what’s cool about Huntsville. I was surprised to find out that Huntsville is the largest city in Alabama by population, so it did not surprise me that there are a lot of cool restaurants, breweries, and more to explore once you’re in the city. However, Phish does not have an extensive history in Huntsville. Luckily, Bobby was at both shows in 2023, so he is able to give us detailed highlights from that run.

This is one of the shorter venue previews due to Phish’s short history in Huntsville, but Bobby and I make the most of it. Enjoy today’s conversation about the Orion Amphitheater, and Huntsville, Alabama in general in anticipation of Phish’s return on October 10 and 11, 2026.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I wanted to remind you that you can support Attendance Bias by rating and reviewing the show wherever you get your podcasts, you can follow Attendance Bias on social media, and you can visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can. Now, onto the show:

Welcome back to Florida! It’s been a full 10 years since Phish last played The Sunshine State, and that last gig was in the same venue they’re playing on October 9 in Jacksonville: The VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. To be frank, I knew nothing about that show, about the venue, or about Jacksonville at all until I spoke with today’s guest: Kristen Cassidy, or as you may know her from tour: “Green Eyes.”

Even though Phish has a very slim history in Jacksonville–this October will be the band’s 2nd show in America’s largest city by landmass–there are some highlights from that fall 2016 show at the arena.

More importantly, there are highlights about Jacksonville. It turns out that what I didn’t know about Jacksonville could fill a library, or at least a few stomachs. Kristen gives us everything we need to know and more. She tells us the history of the arena, the best place to get red shrimp, where the preshow and aftershow parties will be, what to do if you have some extra time, and which beaches to visit if you have a day off.

So if you’re making your way south of Georgia and plan to be there for Phish’s grand return to The River City, enjoy today’s preview of Phish's show at VyStar Arena in Jacksonville on October 9, 2026 with Kristen “Green Eyes” Cassidy.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I wanted to remind you that you can support Attendance Bias by rating and reviewing the show wherever you get your podcasts, you can follow Attendance Bias on social media, and you can visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can. Now, onto the show:

Welcome to Richmond, Virginia, everybody! Even though today’s venue, The Allianz Amphitheater is brand new by Phish standards–just over a year old at the time of this recording–Richmond is a familiar friend to the Phish world. Of all four stops on this fall tour: Atlantic City, Richmond, Jacksonville, and Huntsville, Richmond has, by far, the richest Phish history. However, that history stopped in the early 90s, as the band hasn’t played Richmond proper in 32 years! Time to welcome them back.

Today’s guest, Scott Wise, is the perfect tour guide to welcome us to Richmond. Being a long-time resident of the city, and a Phish fan since the early 90s, he is able to take us through places to see, things to do, long-gone Phish venues of the past in Richmond, and more.

In addition, Scott is the co-host of the podcast “Eat It, Virginia” where he and Robey Martin explore and find different culinary treats throughout the Old Dominion. As a result, when I asked him about places to eat and drink around Richmond for the Phish shows, I needed to get a pen and paper out, because it seems like there’s a place for every taste.

So if you’re a fan of early Phish history, if you’re going to the shows at the Allianz Amphitheater, or if you just want to go on a tour of an up-and-coming city in the south, enjoy this episode where Scott Wise and I preview Phish’s shows on October 6 and 7, 2026.

Scott's Interview with Phish's Chef

Feature About Phish Members Spotted in Richmond

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I wanted to remind you that you can support Attendance Bias by rating and reviewing the show wherever you get your podcasts, you can follow Attendance Bias on social media, and you can visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can. Now, onto the show:

It’s only been a short while, but we are back previewing venues here on Attendance Bias. After Phish’s fantastic and innovative summer tour, it felt like we had maybe 5 minutes to breathe and collect ourselves before they announced the 2026 fall tour. And we are all using the word “tour” loosely. The whole tour is 8 shows in 4 venues in 10 days, all in October. So once the tour was announced, I went straight to work reaching out to find fans who would be excited to talk about each venue that will host the band.

First up is a venue that made its bones as a legendary place to see Phish fairly recently: Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Situated right on the boardwalk, the art deco venue has hosted Phish twice before, both for Halloween runs. But today’s episode covers more than that.

Today’s guest, Adam Pritchard, is an old school fan who has seen every show Phish has played in Atlantic City and doesn’t live very far away. Together, we review the long history of the renovated venue, offer our opinions of almost every show played there, and take a couple of conversational detours to the other shows Phish has played in Atlantic City in 2012, 2021, and 2022.

But I don’t want to spoil it. Whether or not you’re going to AC this October, enjoy today’s conversation about Phish’s history at Boardwalk Hall and Atlantic City as we get ready to see them again on October 2, 3, and 4, 2026.

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Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I just want to remind everyone that if you enjoy the podcast, you can show your support by leaving a rating and review of it wherever you get your podcasts. You can also visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can to keep the podcast going. Now, onto today’s episode:

When it comes to the 3.0 era, everyone has their favorite year or their favorite tour. But there is one part of 3.0 that doesn’t get a lot of attention: 2010 has its share of great shows, but it mostly carries the reputation of Phish still getting back on their feet. More specifically, the 2010 fall tour was played mostly in small venues that didn’t get a lot of hype at the time. That may have made for some shows that were easy to brush off, but if you were there, it also made for an unforgettable experience.

And, in a nutshell, that is the story for today’s guest, Jordan Gundeck, who is here to tell about his experience on 10/19/10 at the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta, ME. Between UMASS, Utica, and Augusta, this leg of the Fall 2010 tour felt like a throwback to 1994, or an even earlier time in Phish history, where the sound was fantastic no matter where in the venue you were, with no lines at the concessions or bathrooms and no traffic leading in or getting out of the venue. It was a throwback.

But mixed in was the band’s confidence in their playing. The first set is made up of strong fan favorites while the second set contains a Fuck Your Face three-spot, Manteca, a killer Mike’s Groove, and much more. Speaking with Jordan, you can hear his excitement about this show from 16 years ago, as if he saw it just last night.

But it’s Jordan’s story to tell. Let’s join him to talk about the Voodoo Lounge tour, the whale call, and whether or not the band overplayed “Possum,” as we discuss October 19, 2010 at the August Civic Center.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. Today, we conclude our venue preview miniseries for Phish’s 2026 summer tour at the place where fans will be thrilled to return: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado. Last year was Folsom Field in Boulder, but after months or even a year of speculation, most Phish fans were thrilled to hear a return to normalcy where the band will spend the traditional Labor Day Weekend for three nights: September 4, 5, and 6, this summer.

When I decided to put this miniseries together, the idea of previewing Dick’s was a bit of a challenge. The band has been playing the venue for so long, and it’s such a fan favorite, what is there to actually preview about it? Luckily, today’s guest, Stacie Ledden, has seen almost every Colorado Phish show, going back to 1997. That’s an achievement in itself, but she ALSO has a great memory and picks out her favorite moments of seeing Phish at Dick’s, going back 15 years and 42 shows.

As a result, this episode does provide the basics about Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, and the surrounding area, but it’s also a retrospective of the band’s high points, provided by Stacie. And man, there are plenty of high points to review, whether it’s a themed show, a jam of the year, or a standout version of The Squirming Coil.

But let’s hear it from Stacie as we wrap up the 2026 summer tour at Dick’s on September 4, 5, and 6th.

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Have you ever time-traveled? If you saw Phish at any of their shows over the past week, you have...sort of.

Scott Marks of Phish.net and The Mockingbird Foundation joins me less than 24 hours after Phish's instant-classic 5-show run at MSG to recount what we loved and what we thought of the "Phish in 5" portion of the 2026 summer tour.

Scott and I spoke right off the top of our heads, so this isn't the usual, polished episode of Attendance Bias. Rather, it's a breezy but passionate conversation between two BIG Phish fans. Whether you were at the shows or not, enjoy!

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I wanted to remind you that you can support Attendance Bias by rating and reviewing the show wherever you get your podcasts, you can follow Attendance Bias on social media, and you can visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can. Now, onto the show:

We’ve made it–the tour closer. Phish is closing the 2026 summer tour with a pair of shows at a venue with a complicated Phish history: Fenway Park in Boston. It’s no stretch to say that Boston is a pivotal city when it comes to Phish history. It’s a straight line from Burlington to Boston to New York, with occasional stops in Colorado when it comes to “Crucial Places on the Phish Map.” Yet, since the mid-90s, Phish has become a bit shy when it comes to playing Beantown. And when they do play in Boston, it’s at the oldest active stadium in Major League Baseball: Fenway Park; a venue loved by baseball fans and loathed by live music fans.

To help us bridge that gap is today’s guest, Dave Hamilton. Dave has more than his share of experience behind the mic and behind the drum kit. He plays in at least two bands: Casual Gravity and Bitter Pill. He also hosts, or co-hosts the podcasts Gig Gab about music and musicians, Mac Geek Gab about Apple products, and Business Brain for entrepreneurs. So you can tell he’s got experience at speaking about his passions, not to mention a touch of Casey Kasem in his vocal tone. In other words, he knows what he’s talking about and it’s fun to listen to him tell us what he knows,

For today’s purposes, Dave tells us about what makes Fenway great, what makes it not-so-great, and what Phish’s ascent throughout New England in the 90s and early 2000s so meaningful. In addition, we make sure to touch on key moments and gigs from Phish’s extensive history in Boston, and what to expect for these upcoming Fenway shows, based on their previous performances at the stadium.

So let’s join Dave as we close out the Summer Tour Preview at Fenway park on July 31 and August 1, 2026.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I wanted to remind you that you can support Attendance Bias by rating and reviewing the show wherever you get your podcasts, you can follow Attendance Bias on social media, and you can visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can. Now, onto the show:

Welcome back to the Attendance Bias Summer 2026 Venue Preview Series! Last week, we got a peek at Lakeview Amphitheater in Syracuse, and now we are in the penultimate stop of the summer tour where I have a feeling things will get weird: a 5 show stop, July 22, 24, 25, 27, and 29 at Madison Square Garden in–where else–New York City.

You know, years ago, when Phish would announce a summer tour, the band would release a pre-recorded video, sometimes with narration and other times without, and the tour dates would show up in different places in each shot. It’s been a while since Phish released a tour announcement video…until this year. The band didn’t announce their summer tour with a video; they announced this micro-residency at MSG with a video formatted as if you were channel surfing at some point in the early 90s. The channels featured various New York City staples, like the weather channel, hot dog vendors, WPIX New York, and even a 90s-style Katy Tur reporting the news, all while the studio version of “Glide” played in the background. The message is clear: Phish at Madison Square Garden is a normal part of the 90s NYC culture, just like skateboarders, the Time Square stock market ticker, or the Knicks and Rangers celebrating a win at the World’s Most Famous Arena. Clearly, the band is especially excited to make their way to 100 shows at MSG, and this summer provided an opportunity to make it happen just that much quicker.

To preview this run, there is only one person I would want to be my guest for this episode: co-host of the Helping Friendly Podcast, Osiris Media personality, and my good friend, Megan Glionna. Like me, Megan lives close to the Garden, is overly analytical, knowledgeable, and nerdy about Phish, sees them a ton, and romanticizes New York City while still being able to take off those rose-colored glasses when there’s someone urinating on the subway, or worse.

It’s no surprise that this episode is the longest of the preview series. Megan tells us about her history as a New Yorker, we debate what 100 shows at the same venue might mean to the fans and the band, and of course we wax poetic about our favorite moments at MSG, those that involve Phish, and those that don’t. In short, we cover a lot of ground since this episode previews the shows at what is probably the most important venue in modern Phish history.

But I don’t want to spoil it, and this introduction is already taking too long. Let’s join Megan as we stop for a week in New York City to see Phish at MSG from July 22 through 29, 2026.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. Today, we continue our miniseries of previewing each venue on Phish’s 2026 summer tour with a newish venue in a longtime favorite Phish town: the Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview in Syracuse, NY. But for the purposes of this episode, we’re just going to call it Lakeview. Other than Walnut Creek, this is the only venue to host just one Phish show this summer, but it has all the makings to be a special show. Today’s guest, Beth Ann Kempf helps explain why.

Phish has played the Lakeview Amphitheater just twice leading into the show this summer, but their history in Syracuse goes all the way back to 1989. In fact, you could argue that it goes even farther back than that, because Jon Fishman is from the area, and the band remembers that seemingly every time they play there. A recurring theme of today’s discussion is that there is on stage banter in virtually every show played in Syracuse, going back to 1989, which was just a few years after Fishman graduated high school!

On top of that, Beth Ann tells us about the amphitheater itself, along with plenty of things to do in and around Syracuse, should you find yourself looking for things to do in The Salt City before or after the show. She’s been seeing the band since 1991, and has lived near Syracuse for most of her adult life. She’s an excellent tour guide for anyone hitting this show.

So let’s dive into Central New York with Beth Ann Kampf as we prepare for Phish’s show at the Lakeview Amphitheater on July 21, 2026.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. Today, we continue our miniseries of previewing each venue on Phish’s 2026 summer tour with an old favorite: Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia, Maryland. We are at the mid-point of the tour, having just visited Walnut Creek, and on the way to Lakeview in Syracuse for a one night stop after these two shows.

Today’s guests to give us the inside scoop on MPP should be familiar voices to anyone listening; we have familiar friends today: JW and Skinny from the Stub Me Down podcast. As you’ve come to hear, these guys are not only intelligent and experienced Phish fans, but they both live nearby the venue, within a half hour or, in Skinny’s case, 8 minutes exactly.

Together, we review the history of the legendary venue, its connection to the jamband scene and, of course, our favorite memories of seeing Phish there since 1998, although JW is quick to point out that the band’s first performance on that stage was in 1992 opening for Santana.

But let’s hear it from Skinny and JW as we prepare for Phish’s 2-night run, their first at MPP since 2022, on July 18 and 19, 2026.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I wanted to remind you that you can support Attendance Bias by rating and reviewing the show wherever you get your podcasts, you can follow Attendance Bias on social media, and you can visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can. Now, onto the show:

Today, we continue our miniseries of previewing each venue on Phish’s 2026 summer tour with a peek at Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek, or for the purposes of today’s episode: Walnut Creek. We are firmly in the “Thunderstorms with 110% humidity” leg of summer tour. The last venue was Enmarket Arena in Savannah, this week we are in Raleigh, North Carolina for Walnut Creek, and next up will be Merriweather Post. Although there are some quirks to this summer tour, Walnut Creek is a well-established venue for Phish fans, going all the way back to 1994. In fact, with just one or two exceptions, Phish’s history in Raleigh is their history at Walnut Creek, which makes this a very exciting stop on the tour and an exciting episode.

Our tour guide today is Bryan Rodgers; a long-time Phish fan who has lived in and around the Raleigh-Durham area for nearly all his life. Bryan not only tells us about the literal geography of Raleigh, but explains the recent history of Raleigh, where and how the jamband scene fits in over the past 30 years, active venues, and venues long gone, and the best places to get North Carolina Raleigh-style barbecue.

In addition, Bryan and I review Phish's history in Raleigh and at Walnut Creek; I’ll be honest: there are a lot more music clips in today’s episode than there usually are in the venue previews. Walnut Creek deserves and demands it. Whether it’s jamming during a thunderstorm, or a mashup between Runaway Jim and Run Like An Antelope, Bryan has us covered today.

So let’s get right to it as we prepare for Phish’s show at Walnut Creek on July 17, 2026.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. By now, we are off and running. The tour started in Madison, WI for the long-awaited return to the Kohl Center, we spent a 3-night run at the long-time favorite Deer Creek, and now it’s time to visit the dirty south to visit a brand new venue–both in construction and for Phish–the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia. Not only is the venue new to Phish, but imagine my surprise during my research when I found out that Phish has never played in Savannah before. This summer we are going to witness a first! On top of breaking ground in the historic city, they’re also playing for two nights! All that said, this means there’s a lot of unknowns for fans traveling to Georgia for these two shows.

Luckily, today’s guests have you covered. Earth and Jessie live in Savannah, and have plenty to say about their hometown. I helped guide the conversation during the recording, but I feel like I could have asked one question: “Tell me about Enmarket Arena and what there is to do in Savannah” and we would have everything we need to know for Phish’s visit. Actually, even though I’m not going to these two shows, I was ready to book a flight to Savannah just to try and do all of the recommendations Earth and Jessie gave during today’s conversation!

They cover everything: what to do, where to eat, where to drink, where to walk, and even where to get zoned out by floors made of crystal and glass containing dinosaur fossils. But also more practical details like what the area around the venue is like, how to get there, where to park…you know, the stuff this podcast series is for.

But let’s hear it from Earth and Jessie, as they are pumped for Phish’s two shows at the Enmarket Arena on July 14 and 15, 2026.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. Welcome back to our 2026 miniseries of previewing each venue on Phish’s summer tour. Last time, we opened the series by visiting an arena we haven’t seen in a long time: the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Today, we are going to preview an amphitheater that is embedded in Phish lore to the point where it seems like we’re talking about a family reunion: Deer Creek Amphitheater in Noblesville, Indiana.

The mere mention of the words “Deer Creek”--excuse me, the “Ruoff Music Center”--elicits dozens, if not hundreds of memories and anecdotes in the Phish universe. The band has been playing the venue for a shade over 31 years, yet there’s plenty to preview and review. Luckily, today’s guest–Ben Karle–has seen Deer Creek change from an amphitheater in the middle of a series of cornfields to the centerpiece of a suburb, complete with its own downtown, since the venue opened in 1989.

There’s plenty to debate whether the growth of Deer Creek, or the town that’s grown up around Noblesville over the past 37 years is for better or worse, but for today’s episode, Ben and I simply review the venue’s history, remember stories from Phish’s illustrious past shows at the Creek–from Moby Dick to Soul Planet–and he offers his opinions on the best and not-so-best parts of seeing a show at the classic venue.

So whether or not you’re staying at Sleepy Bear Campground or a downtown AirBnB, let’s join Ben to get ready for a 3-spot on July 10, 11, and 12 at Deer Creek in Noblesville, Indiana.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host Brian Weinstein. I’m thrilled to welcome you to today’s episode–the first of our 2026 venue preview series, as we preview each venue on Phish’s 2026 summer tour. In today’s episode, Mike from Madison reintroduces us to a venue that Phish has visited before, but not since 1998: The Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin where Phish will start their 2026 summer tour with two shows on July 7th and 8th.

Mike has lived in Madison for 20 years, and knows the ins and outs of the small Wisconsin city, offering tips on how to get around, places to eat, drink, and hang out for anybody who is going to the shows from out of town. Whether its the best tavern for a brat or thin crust pizza, or losing your mind touring a Frank Lloyd Wright designed fun house, this episode is to help you discover the joys of Mad City.

More than that, we review Phish’s history in Madison. Although the band hasn’t played the Kohl Center, or in Madison in nearly 30 years, the city of lakes was a crucial building block during the band’s van years of the very early 1990s. Madison was a regular stop, usually in the fall, and you could trace Phish’s rise by looking at the different sized venues they played in Madison throughout the 90s.

But there’s so much more to it. Join Mike and I as we kick off the Attendance Bias Venue Previews with the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin on July 7 and 8, 2026.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I just want to remind everyone that if you enjoy the podcast, you can show your support by leaving a rating and review of it wherever you get your podcasts. You can also visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can to keep the podcast going. Now, onto today’s episode.

Today is a preview of a preview. Leading up to Phish’s summer tour last year, 2025, I thought it would be fun to do a deep dive into two new venues Phish was playing: Forest Hills Stadium in New York City, and Folsom Field in Boulder. I keep an eye on the online Phish community on Twitter, Bluesky, Facebook, Reddit, etc. and it seemed like fans had the most questions about those venues. I was lucky to find people who were willing to come on the show and pretty much answer a Q&A about each venue. It was kind of the same format as a regular Attendance Bias episode, except the episode was about a venue and not a particular show. Then, a friend recommended that I shouldn’t stop at Forest Hills and Folsom; I should record an episode for every venue on the 2025 tour. I loved doing it, and so that’s what happened. I was very proud of it, and by the end, I felt like I could hop on tour at any moment and know everything I needed to know about any given venue.

Once Phish announced their 2026 summer tour this past February, I felt that impulse to record another “Venue Preview” miniseries–you know when you feel that feeling that says: “This is going to be difficult, it’s going to take a lot of work, but I really, really, really want to do it?” Once I saw their tour, that’s the feeling I felt. I immediately went to work, contacting friends, working through a few false starts, and doing a ton of research of places I’ve never visited–sure, I could tell you the basics of seeing a show at Merriweather Post Pavilion, but the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia may as well be in Taiwan. Plus, I had to think of ways to preview the most familiar Phish venues: how exactly does one give a heads up about seeing Phish at Madison Square Garden or Deer Creek? I had my work cut out for me.

Regardless, the next 10 weeks of Attendance Bias episodes will sound like that: The 2026 Summer Tour Venue Preview Series. Now that the 3 weekends at the Sphere are done, here are Phish’s next stops, along with the guests who will help tell us about each venue and city:

*July 7 and 8 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin with Mike Lancaster

*July 10, 11, and 12, at Deer Creek with Ben Karle

*July 14 and 15 at the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, GA with my friends Earth and Jessie

*July 17 at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, NC, with Bryan Rodgers

*July 18 and 19 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland with Skinny and JW from the Stub Me Down podcast

*July 21 at the Lakeview Amphitheater in Syracuse, NY with Beth Ann Kempf

*July 22-29 at Madison Square Garden with Megan Glionna

*July 31 and August 1 at Fenway Park with Dave Hamilton

*Finally, September 4-6 at Dick’s with Stacie Ledden

Whether or not you’re seeing a show at any given venue on the tour, I would recommend listening to each episode. It gives you a flavor of what it’s like to see Phish at that venue and what it’s like to be in that city. I loved it.

I do what to take a moment to thank every guest I just named for being generous with their time and their knowledge. Want to know what to do if you arrive in Madison a day early or end up staying a day late? Are you a barbecue fiend and want to know the best place to stop in Raleigh? Need to know how tight security is in Savannah? These guests have you covered.

To wrap it all up, just a few notes:

This coming Monday, May 11, http://phish.net will post a blog entry I

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I just want to remind everyone that if you enjoy the podcast, you can show your support by leaving a rating and review of it wherever you get your podcasts. You can also visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can to keep the podcast going. Now, onto today’s episode:

Today’s guest, Shoheen Owhady, is the keyboard player for Uncle Ebeneezer, a Phish cover band based out of New Jersey, AND the keyboard player for The Dude of Life Band. And it just so happens that today’s show we discussed: July 3, 1995 at Sugarbush Mountain in Vermont, is Page’s show. Between Strange Design, Loving Cup, A Day in the Life, and monster solos in The Squirming Coil, Possum, and David Bowie, this is one that anyone interested in Phish keyboards should pay extra close attention.

Then, just as important as the music, is the context. On Attendance Bias, we talk about different eras and milestones that certain shows represent. There’s a pretty strong argument that this show on the mountain was the end of an era. It was the last show the band would play before the death of Jerry Garcia, and we all know how that would affect the Phish scene started just a few months later in the fall of 1995. It was also the last Phish show to be played in their home state of Vermont until 1997, and the last major show to be played there until the Coventry festival in 2004. As we discuss, the end of an era.

But in between that is all the passion for the music. Phish played Sugarbush the previous year in the summer of 1994–a show immortalized as a highly tradeable tape and released as one of the original Live Phish albums. The band decided to double-down for 1995 and play two nights, complete with on-site camping. When you hear Shoheen describe the crowd and hear his story of how he got in, it’s no wonder that the band would produce their own festival, The Clifford Ball, the following year.

There’s so much more, though. Let’s join Shoheen to discuss the evolution of Simple, the Sigma Oasis album, and how a moose ends up on stage on July 3, 1995 at Sugarbush Mountain.

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Hi everybody and welcome to Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Before we get started with today’s episode, I just want to remind everyone that if you enjoy the podcast, you can show your support by leaving a rating and review of it wherever you get your podcasts. You can also visit http://www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donate anything you can to keep the podcast going. Now, onto today’s episode:

When it comes to the holiday run, each show from December 28th to the 31st has sort of developed its own personality; the 28th is the warm-up show, the 29th is the rock and roll show with the most energy, the 30th is the legendary night before the night where the band plays most of its memorable jams, and of course New Year’s Eve, where the biggest shenanigans go down. Today’s guest, Scott Mitchell, the proprietor and operator of PhanDesignz, takes that paradigm and turns it on its head. For Scott, 12/28 is the show not to be missed, and he remembers the one that set that precedent: December 28, 1996 at the Philadelphia Spectrum.

The 1996 holiday run was split between Philadelphia and Boston–probably the last hurrah of the northeast runs before Phish would, for the most part, settle in at Madison Square Garden to end the year. Most people are probably more familiar with the following night, when Tom Marshall came onstage in the middle of Harpua to sing a respectable cover of “Champagne Supernova,” so I was curious as to what this show meant to Scott when he suggested it for the podcast.

Unsurprisingly, 12/28/96 was the perfect combination of music and life circumstances for Scott to create an unforgettable experience at Phish. The show was, unusually, driven by Page, and included a couple of rarities and weird song pairings in the setlist. More importantly, Scott was getting ready to finish college and was home for the holidays, meeting up with friends who had gotten into the band while in their respective universities, which tends to happen. For today’s episode, though, Scott wanted to focus mostly on the second set of this show, as that’s where the big fireworks happen.

There’s more to it than that, including Scott’s role as the designer and showrunner of PhanDesignz, an online fan art store, and big time Phish nerdery as we go deep during today’s conversation. I’ll let Scott tell the story as we go back to The Spectrum on December 28, 1996.

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