Last night, Athens jam heroes Widespread Panic played their first of two headlining sets at The Peach Music Festival at Montage Mountain in Scranton, PA. The performance was part a fully-loaded Saturday lineup including a Gov’t Mule & Friends performance with John Scofield, two sets of Umphrey’s McGee, two sets of Aqueous, The Marcus King Band, Spafford, Galactic, Fruition, Mungion, Eric Krasno Band and more, in addition to the festival’s all-star tribute to Gregg Allman and Butch Trucks featuring Chuck Leavell, Jaimoe, Oteil Burbridge, Marc Quinones, Duane Trucks and a long list of extended Allmans “family” members.
Panic’s set featured a heavy helping of fan-favorite originals, including a particularly fiery “Big Wooly Mammoth” > “Pilgrims” > “Party At Your Mama’s House” > “Ribs & Whiskey” run that served as the meat of the set. The single-set performance also saw the band channel their inner ZZ Top by covering the first two cuts off 1973 classic Tres Hombres: “Waiting For The Bus” and “Jesus Just Left Chicago.”
Peach Festival Sees MMJ Cover ABB, Lettuce With Chaka Khan, And More [Video/Audio/Photo]
But perhaps the most notable highlights came at the set’s back end, when the band welcomed two of the finest young guitarists in the game–Brandon “Taz” Niederauer and Marcus King–to join them onstage in turn for a pair of thrilling sit-ins, each of them making the most of their opportunities to trade licks with Jimmy Herring. First, 14-year-old Taz joined the band for an extended take on “Surprise Valley,” the opening cut from their 1999 LP ‘Til the Medicine Takes. Next, as the crowd roared with approval for the small 6-string superstar, vocalist John Bell remarked that the band would continue their “little jam session,” announcing “…ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Marcus King!” The 21-year-old South Carolina bluesman helped the band through thrilling renditions of Robert Johnson standard “Me and the Devil Blues” and Talking Heads‘ “Life During Wartime” to close the set. Finally, the band returned for a staple encore cover of Warren Zevon‘s “Lawyers, Guns, and Money” to cap a top-notch performance.
You can watch fan-shot footage of Taz’s sit-in on “Surprise Valley” below via YouTube user Sean Roche:
You can also listen to the entire set below (including audio of both Brandon and Marcus’ sit-ins, taped, transferred & seeded by Ted Gakidis) via PanicStream. Stream below (uploaded by Jam Buzz):
The Peach Music Festival wraps up today with sets by Joe Bonamassa, Mike Gordon, and more, as well as another headlining performance from Widespread Panic.
SETLIST: Widespread Panic | The Peach Music Festival | Montage Mountain | Scranton, PA | 8/13/17
Henry Parsons Died > Love Tractor, You Got Yours, Waiting For The Bus > Jesus Left Chicago, Big Wooly Mammoth > Pilgrims > Party At Your Mama’s House > Ribs & Whiskey, Cease Fire, Surprise Valley#, (Marcus intro) > Me & The Devil Blues*, Life During Wartime*
Encore: Lawyers, Guns and Money
# w/ Brandon “Taz” Niederauer on guitar
* w/ Marcus King
Telefunken ELA M260/AKG ck8(PAS) > Zoom F8(24/48)
Taped, Transferred & Seeded by Ted Gakidis
[Cover photo via Andrew Blackstein]
Fans of Brandon “Taz” Niederauer can see him and massive list of other talented artists at the upcoming Brooklyn Comes Alive, set to take place across three venues in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on September 23rd and 24th. The 2017 lineup is set to include hand-selected band lineups featuring all-star musicians like John Scofield, George Porter Jr. (The Meters), Al Schnier and Vinnie Amico (moe.), Aron Magner and Marc Brownstein (The Disco Biscuits), Joel Cummins and Kris Myers (Umphrey’s McGee), Mike Greenfield and Jesse Miller (Lotus), Jason Hann (String Cheese Incident), Alan Evans (Soulive), Cyril Neville (Neville Brothers), Henry Butler, Jon Cleary, Reed Mathis (Electric Beethoven), Michael League, Nate Werth, Chris Bullock, Robert “Sput” Searight, and Bob Lanzetti (Snarky Puppy), Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie Cressman (Trey Anastasio Band) and so many more!
For a full list of artists, head to the event’s website. To get the low-down on the various band lineups as they are rolled out, check out our Guide To All Brooklyn Comes Alive Band Formations (So Far, and keep an eye out for further band announcements and other big Brooklyn Comes Alive news over the coming days!
