Hi everybody and welcome to today’s episode of Attendance Bias, or more really, the third and final episode of “This Time Will be Different: 15 Years Since Hampton.” I am your host, Brian Weinstein.
Today’s episode ends our look back at what led to Phish’s comeback at Hampton, 15 years ago on March 6, 2009. If you haven’t listened yet, previous episodes have covered The pressures that led to the hiatus in 2000, the multi-faceted hot mess that was 2004, and the rebirth of the Phish experience in the early spring of 2009.
When I first had the idea for this miniseries, I figured that today’s episode, the one about Hampton 2009, would be an enormous undertaking. A full weekend of shows, easily making up the most important run of the band’s career, marking the turning point from the past to the present that would introduce the 3.0 era. Yet, as my co-hosts and I were speaking–Charlie Dirksen and Scott Marks from Phish.net and The Mockingbird Foundation–it became more about our experiences and our personal feelings during that all-important March weekend.
In the end, that’s what Attendance Bias is about–each guest’s own experience at any given show. There is a lot more of this story to be told but, for now, this love-fest about Phish coming back to life will settle things for now.To wrap things up, please welcome Scott Marks and Charlie Dirsken of Phish.net and The Mockingbird Foundation as we continue This Time Will be Different, Episode 3.