Venue Preview: Madison Square Garden w/Megan Glionna

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 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.