Celebrated veterans of the road Widespread Panic returned for a second night of debauchery at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina on Saturday.
The band used its second of three nights in Asheville to perform a setlist filled with mostly old-school originals that debuted before 2000 mixed with covers by the usual suspects like Bloodkin, Neil Young, and Vic Chesnutt alongside a few other crowd favorites by Parliament-Funkadelic, Bill Withers, and Steve Ferguson.
Panic opened the festivities with a short and sweet “Pleas” before segueing into the rolling rhythm of “Diner”. Jimmy Herring cut his first triumphant solo after John Bell “woke up too early on the park bench / don’t worry / the ‘spectable people don’t come around for a few hours.”
When Herring eventually settled down, Widespread Panic transitioned into “All Time Low” before the waterfall of melodies cascaded hauntingly into the introduction to “Blue Indian”. John “JoJo” Hermann took lead vocals for a hike up to Thacker Mountain on “Visiting Day”, during which he rhetorically asked, “Why can’t we just take a look around us? / And only see the things that make you smile?”
Widespread Panic – “All Time Low” – 8/7/21
[Video: Patricia Hatcher]
JB’s well-rested vocals blazed the way through “Time Zones”, co-written with Jerry Joseph, before the band served up the first cover of the night with Bloodkin’s “Makes Sense to Me”. A psychedelic “Jack” warped the audience back to the medieval times where “wizards pulled lizards [from] between his knees” and JB “whomped up biscuits for us all.” To close out the 70-minute first frame, Dave Schools led the band through Steve Ferguson’s “Flat Footed Flewzy”.
View this post on Instagram
The band shuffled back onstage to pay tribute to Neil Young for the second consecutive night with a cover of “Walk On” before sliding into a kaleidoscopic hellfire ride through “Tie Your Shoes”. In between songs, the band featured a lengthy transitional jam on “Turn On Your Love Light”, honoring the Days Between (the week between Jerry Garcia’s first and last light) and the Grateful Dead. In the middle of the “Tie Your Shoes” jam, Dave Schools also teased Little Feat’s “Spanish Moon”. One of these days, it’s not gonna be a tease, and the audience in attendance is going to lose their minds.
A dirty “Christmas Katie” gave Herring the opportunity to soar before Schools grounded the cosmonaut for a gritty rendition of Bill Withers’ “Use Me”. When the chorus came around, JB’s soulful voice was echoed by the rowdy crowd. After a brief pause, Panic emerged from its quiet cocoon with a metamorphosing “Conrad.”
To begin an uninterrupted stream of music, Widespread Panic revived another one of its oldest originals with a serene “Sleepy Monkey” before landing softly into Vic Chesnutt’s “Blight”. Dave Schools led the charge here, pounding his bass and howling the vocals as he pantomimed wearing a mask in the stead of his traditionally jeering quips.
The sextet dumped gas on the fire, igniting the audience and city of Asheville with a scorching take on P-Funk’s “Red Hot Mama”. The Panics gave this tune the “treatment,” when they dissect the song layer by layer and rebuild it from scratch. First, the drummers to exchanged blows on the barebones percussion foundation of the song. Next, Schools and JoJo integrated their own supplementary sounds. Herring fiddled casually before building up the melodies measure by measure with light-speed precision. John Bell completed the tune’s revival with his powerhouse vocals.
To close out the second set, Panic covered the customary combination of Chesnutt songs with a clobbering “Protein Drink / Sewing Machine”. Jimmy Herring harnessed the power of his home state to obliterate any doubters to Widespread Panic’s throne.
The band returned for an extended selection of encores with another tribute to Bloodkin, “Trashy”. This marked the second Widespread performance of “Trashy” which debuted two months ago at the band’s return to stage at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Bloodkin featured the song on April 2021’s Black Market Tango and lost singer, songwriter, and centerpiece of Athens’ music scene, Daniel Hutchens, shortly thereafter.
Panic transitioned next into a bumping cut of “Weight of the World” off ‘91’s self-titled sophomore album before galloping down the final stretch of the penultimate show with frantic “Action Man”.
View this post on Instagram
The entire show comprised of over 3 hours of Grade-A slabs of music, slathered with Carolina’s hottest Reaper sauce.
Widespread Panic returns to the stage one final night at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville for Sunday service. It’s said a lot, but still not enough: never miss a Sunday show!
For a full list of upcoming Widespread Panic tour dates, head here.
Setlist: Widespread Panic | Harrah’s Cherokee Center | Asheville, NC | 8/7/21
Set One: Pleas > Diner > All Time Low, Blue Indian, Visiting Day, Time Zones, Makes Sense To Me, Jack, Flat Foot Flewzy (70 mins)
Set Tw0: Walk On > Tie Your Shoes, Christmas Katie > Use Me, Conrad, Sleepy Monkey > Blight > Red Hot Mama > Drum solo > Red Hot Mama, Protein Drink / Sewing Machine (94 mins)
Encore: Trashy > Weight of the World, Action Man (19 mins)
Notes – ‘Turn On Your Love Light’ jam during ‘Walk On’
– ‘Spanish Moon’ tease during ‘Tie Your Shoes’