Last night, Widespread Panic took the final bow of their three-night NYE residency at the fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta. The crowd was treated to three sets of firing WSMFP, and everyone left fully satisfied.

Starting early in their songbook with a welcoming ‘Pilgrims’, they got straight to business with ‘Wondering’ and ‘Tickle The Truth’. Still relatively mellow, but jamming all the way, they stepped into ‘Angels Don’t Sing The Blues’ from their most recent album Street Dogs (read our review) into back-to-back Leonard Cohen debuts ‘First We Take Manhattan’ and a delightfully intimate ‘Hallelujah’.

Things definitely picked up in the second set for a fire-breathing ‘Disco’, into a ‘Cease Fire’ > ‘Rock’ heavy jam. Sticking to their deep-rooted Southern rock attitude, they busted out their teeth-grinding, swamp-stomping, face-melting rendition of Murray McLauchlan‘s ‘Honky Red’, also from Street Dogs. The Megablasters stepped in on horns for the latter part of the set, and the covers continued with War‘s ‘Slippin Into Darkness’ and The Band‘s ‘Ophelia’. 

Set three brought the heat, firing off missiles like ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and ‘Ain’t Life Grand’ with JB on mandolin. An interesting pair of ‘Heroes’ appeared, with the WSP original, featuring the Megablasters on horns, going straight into David Bowie’s version. The covers continued with Bob Dylan‘s ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ into a ‘Ribs & Whiskey’ ‘Drums & Bass’ ‘Drums’ super-duper jam. For recovery, they brought consciousness back with ‘Greta’, Joe Cocker‘s ‘High Time We Went’, ‘Vacation’ and closing with Jerry Joseph‘s ‘North’.

Widespread panic took the stage once more for a riveting encore, opening an enormous can of vibes with the crowd-pleasing, mesmerising ‘I’m Not Alone’. They continued with a tastefully appropriate ‘Up All Night’ with the Megablasters, and closed strong with a twenty-minute Howlin’ Wolf cover of ‘Taildragger’. All in all, WSP delivered a delicious New Year to the Fox Theatre. Taking a breather in January, they’ll be returning to Riviera Maya, Mexico for Panic En La Playa in February, then have twelve dates in February. Find out more about Widespread Panic’s tour on their website.

Setlist: Widespread Panic at The Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA – 12/31/15

Set 1 Pilgrims, Wondering, Tickle The Truth, Angels Don’t Sing The Blues, First We Take Manhattan^, Hallelujah^

Set 2 Disco, Cease Fire > Rock, Honky Red, Action Man, Slippin Into Darkness*#, Bust It Big*, Rebirtha*, Ophelia*

Set 3 Auld Lang Syne, Ain’t Life Grand, Heroes*, Heroes*^, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall*^ > Ribs & Whiskey > Drums & Bass > Drums > Greta* > High Time We Went*, Vacation, North

Encore: I’m Not Alone, Up All Night*, Taildragger* (20 mins)

Notes * w/ The Megablasters on horns
# w/ Steve Lopez on percussion
^ First Time Played: ‘First We Take Manhattan’ & ‘Hallelujah’ (Leonard Cohen); ‘Heroes’ (David Bowie); ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ (Bob Dylan)
[JB seated 1st set; ‘Slippin’ Into Darkness’ LTP 10/19/14 Memphis (80 shows); JB on mandolin for ‘ALG’ ]