Widespread Panic turned up the heat to unprecedented levels of glory on night two of their three-night run at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. The setlist was unbelievable on paper with the accompanying music doing righteous justice to the tunes.
Kicking off an outstanding second night of music, Widespread pondered through “Wonderin’”. The song was supposed to be played during the first night’s encores but was scratched in favor of P–Funk’s “Red Hot Mama”. Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul” followed with Jimmy Herring serving up a bowl of lightning and John Bell on point. Neil Young was often quoted as one of the band’s biggest musical influences as they frequently return to Ol’ Neil’s catalogue.
John Bell restored faith in humanity with a heart-wrenchingly, honest take on Pop’s Staples song, “Hope in a Hopeless World”. The opening lines “Baby born in New York City / Wrapped in a blanket all tattered and worn” ignited the crowd’s excitement carrying through the heavy tune with other lyrics such as “Looking for hope in a hopeless world / Searchin’ for love in these hateful times / Try to stay strong but my mind is weak”, “Saturday’s child don’t wanna go to Sunday school”, and “Somebody out there got to know what Pops been talkin’ about.”
JoJo Hermann’s keys dazzled throughout “1×1”, a song based on the historical account of the collapse of Clear Creek Bridge and the mythical savior, Sugarman. Written exactly twenty-one years earlier with the help of Beanland’s guitarist Bill McCrory, Sugarman “dropped his candy “and rescued the audience members one by one in this wild jubilee. Slowing it down for the only time of the show, the boys mellowed out for a bouncing introduction of “Christmas Katie” which soon progressed into a furious maelstrom cast from the fingers of the White Wizard, Mr. Jimmy Herring.
A suave segue that led into “Good Morning, School Girl”, an old blues standard first recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson but also notably played by the Grateful Dead, steamed the venue up with a dog-like John Bell charging the atmosphere with haggard seduction. Bloodkin’s “Who Do You Belong To?” rolled on with a steady rhythm before the tasty riffs of “Thought Sausage” left the audience salivating by the bucketload. Eventually, when Dave School’s bass barrage relented and Jimmy Herring returned to Earth, John Bell stirred the pot enough and gave the command to “come on and git it.”
To close the first set, Widespread kept it savory with a “Bowlegged Woman” sandwich with “Action Man” in the middle, electrifying the audience. The intensity during this sandwich continued throughout the night with JB being particularly gritty throughout Calvin Carter and Bobby Rush’s “B.W.”
Getting back to business, Jimmy Herring’s guitar led the band through the jolted flight of “Saint Ex”- a song based on the German pilot who shot down his favorite author of Little Prince notoriety, Frenchman Antoine de Saint–Exupéry, in WWII. (“If I knew I knew you, I never would have shot you down”). Continuing to draw aces from their sleeves, the band hypnotized the audience with “Hatfield” that culminated into a torrential, downpour of quick-lipped raps, fast-finger riffs, and boot-stompin’ rhythms.
A chain reaction of improvised jams transitioned smoothly through a blazin’ cover of J.J. Cale’s “Ride Me High” and again transitioning in cosmic progression into a badass version of Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breaking Down”. “Stop Breaking Down” had a wicked “Give Me Back My Wig” rap showing off John Bell’s impressive lyrical quips. (“Gimme back my wig and let your head go bald … “ & “The stuff in my pocket gonna bust yer brain out / Make you do the shibbity-shoe-bop”)
After a short pause, the boys whipped up a mean “Machine > Barstools” that continued the trend of rockin’ heaters. JB’s vocals shone as Dave Schools pummeled his bass throughout both songs, and introduced an epic third to the madness with an awesome performance of “You Should Be Glad.” JB gave chills of excitement when he exclaimed, “It’s good to be back again!”, an honest statement after their first run at the venue in twenty-seven years.
As Jimmy Herring slathered the jams with hot sauce, Schools kept the thundering rhythms rolling as the Panics knocked a cover of Tom Waits’ “Goin’ Out West” out of the park. JB kept Tom Waits’ grizzly intensity for a finger-licking good performance of the old school, crowd favorite “Contentment Blues.”
Somewhere during the passionate jam, the stage’s curtains caught fire. In an attempt to extinguish the spreading conflagration, the band summoned up the wits to perform “Chilly Water.” The audience fulfilled their duties and responded with projectile water which was able to put out the fledgling fire. The closing tune included a primitive, drum battle between Duane Trucks and Sonny Ortiz, that ended the second set with a percussive bang.
Upon return for encores, Dave Schools asked JoJo Hermann to “tell the nice people of Port Chester what day it was”. JoJo, to which responded, “It’s puppy day.” With another scratch to two consecutive nights, the Widespread Panic opted for the hard-hitting bass lines of Vic Chesnutt’s “Puppy Sleeps” as opposed to the uplifting piano of “This Part of Town.” The heavy-hitters kept coming with a dirty take on Steve Ferguson’s – of NRBQ notoriety- “Flat Foot Flewzy.” Schools was a veritable hype-man with his howls, yelps, and made a call-to-the-moment vocalizing his appreciation of the night and the audience and prompted JB to include a quick “Hot in herre” Nelly-style rap in the background to ice Saturday night’s whacky smokeshow.
Widespread clearly had unfinished business with The Capitol Theatre in ’92 and through the second set, exonerated the bad blood by fulfilling their personal vendetta with hard-hitting home run after home run.
Widespread Panic Announces Live Stream For Capitol Theatre Closer
They conclude their three-night stay in Port Chester’s The Capitol Theatre tonight. As always, “Never Miss a Panic” show, regardless of what day of the week it is.
Setlist: Widespread Panic | Capitol Theatre | Port Chester, NY | 3/23/19
I: Wondering, Mr. Soul, Hope In A Hopeless World, 1×1, Christmas Katie > Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Who Do You Belong To?, Thought Sausage, Bowlegged Woman > Action Man > Bowlegged Woman
II: Saint Ex, Hatfield > Jam > Ride Me High > Jam > Stop Breakin’ Down Blues, Machine > Barstools & Dreamers, You Should Be Glad, Goin’ Out West > Contentment Blues, Chilly Water
E: Puppy Sleeps, Flat Foot Flewzy