[We'd like to thank user @PaulJ (Paul Jakus) for this post. —Ed.]

While going through the raw show ratings data file a few weeks ago, I noticed an interesting pattern: fewer .Netters rate shows in Mexico than they do shows in the U.S.

I’d aggregated the number of ratings by week, and then graphed these totals over time:

Each year depicts the number of show ratings (for all shows) posted during a single week, graphed for all 52 weeks of the year. The red lines at the bottom indicate if that week had one or more Phish performances, and the weeks with Mexico shows are noted by a small circle. People may rate any performance at any time, so ratings of past shows occur at the same time as current shows.

Nevertheless, the ratings data reveal the pulse of the touring year. In 2016, Weeks 1 and 2 depict the decreasing number of ratings spurred by the 2015/16 NYE shows, then Week 3 shows the jump in the number of ratings associated with the short Mexico Tour, followed by little rating activity until Summer Tour. After that, one can see ratings activity stimulated by Dicks, Fall Tour, and the ramp up to the NYE 2016 shows.

In 2020, you see the falloff from the previous NYE run, then Mexico and the first Dinner and a Movie (DaaM) of the Covid era. The small bumps during the Covid era are generally associated with DaaM and archival releases, until the start of Summer Tour 2021.

There were no Mexico shows in 2018 and 2021 but, looking at the other years it seems clear that the tour-related uptick in ratings submissions is smaller during the Mexico Tour than for other tours. Over the years, the typical Mexico show has received only about 47% of the total number of ratings received by a Dick’s show. The graph below depicts the degree to which performances in Mexico receive fewer ratings relative to other tours during a given year (where Dick’s operates as a yearly baseline):

Regression analysis indicates that, even after accounting for show rating (a show with an additional tenth of a point has about 25 more ratings), a typical show in Mexico receives over 200 fewer ratings than the typical Dick’s show.

Typical shows from Spring and Fall Tours also receive fewer ratings than Dick’s (about 123 and 116 fewer, respectively), but Mexico (214 fewer) really stands out.

Why is this?

Perhaps it’s the timing of tours. Rating shows requires a minimum of 2.5 hours of listening time; one must (presumably) attend a show, watch from the couch, or listen via audio recording. Summer Tour, Dick’s and NYE take place during traditional holiday periods when people often have more time to listen, whereas tours for Mexico, Spring, and Fall do not. Ratings for Mexico shows often come hot on the heels of a NYE Run. Rating activity for Mexico performances may simply suffer from a Holiday work hangover.

Anyone have other thoughts?

Steve Miller Band “Going to Mexico” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HSIec8jUUU

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