Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias. I am your host, Brian Weinstein. Today’s guest–Derek Hill–picked an outstanding show from an underappreciated year: August 14, 2009 at the Meadows Music Center in Hartford, CT. Long-time listeners of Attendance Bias may remember that I recorded a mini-episode about the version of “Icculus” from this show, which was played right in the heart of the 2nd set.
And that leads to just one of several themes that come up during today’s show: the idea that Phish was back during their summer 2009 tour, but were they all back? Derek and I happened to see several shows throughout this tour, separately, yet we had many of the same thoughts. It was extremely fun to catch up on a summer tour from 14 years ago with a complete stranger.
But that’s the thing about this podcast: when the guest is passionate about his or her choice, we are not complete strangers! Derek took his time to pick this Hartford show and once we began talking, it was very obvious that he made the best choice possible. There were times where it felt like this could have been a three-hour episode, just about that Icculus…not to mention many other bustouts and killer jams.
But enough from me; let’s join Derek to talk about the IT festival, selling quesadillas on lot, and second chances as we discuss August 14, 2009 at the Meadows Music Center in Hartford.