Festival 8 w/ Todd M

11/30/22 • 63 min

Hi everybody and welcome to this week’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today’s guest is Todd M, who chose one of the last remaining Phish festivals not yet discussed on this podcast: the underrepresented and possibly underappreciated Festival 8, from October 30 to November 1, 2009 in Indio California. Like most festivals covered on Attendance Bias, it would be the longest episode ever if we covered every song from a three day festival, so Todd chose highlights from each set from that weekend.

Although 2009 doesn’t garner much discussion among the Phish fanbase, Festival 8 had a lot going for it: it was a festival, obviously, which is notable in itself, but it also was the first festival in 3.0, it was on the west coast, it was during Halloween, and it even contained a scheduled morning acoustic set. It felt like Phish knew about all of high-profile fun stuff that us fans love about the band and stuffed most of it into one weekend. On top of that, of course, is the music.

Todd fleshes out what it was like to be at such an event, where all of these favorite Phish checklist items intersected at once. He also tells us about midwest roadtrips, street names at the festival, and the best versions of Suzy Greenberg ever.

Just a note: around halfway through today’s interview, the cord on my microphone jarred loose and the audio quality on my end isn’t as good for the 2nd half. It’s easy to get used to, but I hope it doesn’t bother you as much as it bothers me. Cheers, and enjoy today’s episode with Todd.

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"DWD" from 7/22/17 @ MSG w/Colin Stangle

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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 Collin Stangle, from Brooklyn, New York. Collin is a longtime listener of Attendance Bias and he simply reached out to me on Twitter to ask if he could come on the show, and here we are. It was as simple as that! For today’s episode, Collin chose to discuss a major highlight from the early part of the Baker’s Dozen: “Down with Disease” from July 22, 2017 at Madison Square Garden

I’ve mentioned a number of times that the most commonly chosen era of Phish jams discussed on this show is the summer of 1999. I haven’t done an exact count, but the Baker’s Dozen might be second. Even with our breakdowns of the run on this show, and the Undermine podcast’s in-dept analysis of the record-breaking run, there is something intangibly unique about the band’s idiosyncratic residency at Madison Square Garden, 5 years ago. For Collin, it was even more unique because it was his first show, followed quickly by several more during the run. In today’s discussion, Collin explains the universally exciting feeling we all got from our first show, and then we blend that experience with figuring out the bits and pieces of the most impressive Phish experience of this century.

So let’s join Colin to talk about donuts, crowd reactions, and sneaking snacks into a show as we discuss “Down with Disease” from July 22, 2017 at Madison Square Garden.