"Runaway Jim" from 12/28/97 w/ Dan Wagener

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 www.buymeacoffee.com/attendancebias and donating  anything you can manage–we are reaching the end of the calendar year and I would love it if we could meet our goal to cover expenses before 2026 rolls around. You can also leave a rating or a review of the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Now, onto today’s episode:

If you’ve been listening to Attendance Bias for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard me mention the date of my first Phish show: December 29, 1997. There’s been plenty of discussion of the 1997 New Year’s run on here, but with one notable exception: the ‘97 New Year’s run was made up of four shows: 1 show at the Capitol Center in Landover, MD on 12/28, and then the best-known shows–12/29-31 at MSG. For years, I’ve wondered about what went on at that one-off show in Maryland. So you can imagine my excitement when today’s guest, Dan Wagener, reached out to ask if he could come on Attendance Bias to talk about one of the best jams from that underrated night: “Runaway Jim” from 12/28/97.

Was the first night of the 1997 New Year’s run a warm-up show? An underrated gem? A throwaway remnant before the big time shows at MSG? Find out today as we join Dan to talk about the Capitols, mimes, and ghosts in the machine as we break down “Runaway Jim” from December 28, 1997 at USAir Arena in Landover, MD.