Widespread Panic returned to Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena in Atlantic City on Saturday night for a second explosive round of rock and roll—yet another win for a casino town that has seemingly shifted its focus toward luring in-demand touring acts to the boardwalk. Over the last few years, the Etess Arena stage has been manned by the likes Billy Strings, Tedeschi Trucks Band, The String Cheese Incident, and on Friday, the return of the Athens, GA swamp rockers following guitarist Jimmy Herring‘s recent bout with cancer. That Hard Rock hot streak continued on Saturday with a smoldering Panic show once again featuring ample contributions by Jason Crosby and John Keane.
While Jimmy’s return was the big story of night one in A.C., the continued—and expanded—presence of Jason Crosby (fiddle, keys) and John Keane (pedal steel, acoustic and electric guitar) was the headline of night two: Out of the nineteen songs played, over half featured at least one of the two guests.
Kicking open the screen door to the back porch and the first set, “Holden Oversoul” blazed into a behemoth “Bust It Big” beatdown. After a brief pause, Dave Schools bounced into “Down”, then welcomed Crosby and his fiddle to the stage for the instrumental “Party At Your Mama’s House”. Jimmy Herring accelerated the progressive tempo into a delirious overdrive that cascaded into Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breaking Down Blues”. JoJo Hermann’s piano, Crosby’s fiddle, and John Bell‘s growling vocals put this performance into top-tier status.
John Keane emerged from the shadows and sat at the pedal steel as Widespread Panic honored the late Daniel Hutchens with “Trashy”, the Bloodkin song that has become a de facto anthem for the Panic community (“I’m telling you we’re trashy but we’re true!”). Panic has covered the song almost 30 times in the last four years, but the addition of Keane’s pedal steel gave the familiar tune a novel, uniquely moving perspective.
Winding down the first set, the band cruised into its third consecutive cover, Murray McLaughlan’s “Honky Red”. Badass rock and roll remained on the menu as Widespread Panic finally went scorched-earth on a heavy, menacing “Halloween Face” closer set to strobing beams of colored lights.
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Now past the halfway point of the weekend, the band returned from set break as a six-piece and took flight into a psychedelic “Pigeons”. The dancing fans seemed to transform into the titular animal, complete with bobbing heads and wide, kaleidoscope eyes. Jason Crosby saddled up alongside JoJo next to cook up a zesty pot of J.J. Cale’s “Ride Me High” (“The less you want / the more you got / so don’t you cry for more!”). As Crosby left, Keane returned, picking up his electric guitar and cutting into Jerry Joseph reggae ditty “Chainsaw City”.
Keane swapped places with Crosby once again on the powerful “Mercy” that followed, the mad fiddler’s haunting notes meshing with JB’s vocals like they had always been part of the song’s DNA. A subsequent transitional jam featured some improvised interplay between Herring’s shrieking guitar squeals and Crosby’s violin—with both seemingly trying to match the other’s tone to stunning effect—before JoJo took the helm to steer the seven-piece into the prehistoric stampede of “Big Wooly Mammoth”. Schools’ bass rumbled, Crosby’s fiddle tumbled, and the venue’s elevated bleachers shook but never crumbled under the weight of a thousand dancing Panic fans.
From there, Jason Crosby remained onstage and John Keane came back out with his guitar in hand for the first of two consecutive Vic Chesnutt covers. First, Keane lent his vocals to the first performance of “Degenerate” since its encore appearance at Red Rocks in 2021. Crosby and Keane cleared the stage as Dave Schools stepped to the microphone to belt out “Blight”. In his customary improvised section, Schools rhetorically challenged the audience, “What are you gonna do, man? Whatcha… Gonna… Do?”
John Keane’s pedal steel and Jason Crosby’s fiddle weaved layers of magic and medicine into a legendary rendition of “Blue Indian” (“We got a party going on / many spirits strong!”). Closing out the second set, Keane traded his pedal steel for his guitar to help cover David Bowie’s “Heroes” for only the fifth time ever.
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The late Col. Bruce Hampton was briefly displayed on the monitors as Widespread Panic returned for Saturday night’s encore as a six-piece band for a soul stirring take on “We Walk Each Other Home”, the recently debuted original that JB penned with a heavy heart after losing his dog. The air was thick with emotion.
Switching gears and changing the vibe, Panic welcomed John Keane on guitar and Jason Crosby back on keys to conclude Saturday’s show with “I’m So Glad”, a song long associated with Col. Bruce’s. Herring, Hampton’s former bandmate, paid homage with laser-focus intent and purpose.
With only one show left of the run, it’s time to empty the tanks, fill your hearts and ears, and shake it loose with your friends and family for the grand finale. Widespread Panic in Atlantic City: where everybody wins.
Below, check out the full Saturday night setlist, a selection of videos from the show via YouTube user Brad Walker, and a gallery of photos from the show via AJ Genovesi. Find tickets to Widespread Panic’s upcoming tour dates here.
Widespread Panic – “Bust It Big” – 2/15/25
Widespread Panic – “Party At Your Mama’s House” – 2/15/25
Widespread Panic – “Pigeons” – 2/15/24
Widespread Panic w/ Jason Crosby – “Mercy” (Partial) – 2/15/24
Setlist [via PanicStream]: Widespread Panic | Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena | Atlantic City, NJ | 2/15/25
Set One: Holden Oversoul > Bust It Big, Down, Party At Your Mama’s House [1] > Stop Breakin’ Down Blues [1], Trashy [2] > Honky Red, Halloween Face (73 mins)
Set Two: Pigeons, Ride Me High [3], Chainsaw City [4], Mercy > Big Wooly Mammoth [1], Degenerate [5], Blight > Blue Indian [6], Heroes (David Bowie) [7] (86 mins)
Encore: We Walk Each Other Home, I’m So Glad [8] (16 mins)
Notes
[1] w/ Jason Crosby on fiddle
[2] w/ John Keane on pedal steel
[3] w/ Jason Crosby on keys
[4] w/ John Keane on electric guitar
[5] w/ Jason Crosby on fiddle and John Keane on acoustic guitar/vocals
[6] w/ John Keane on pedal steel and Jason Crosby on fiddle
[7] w/ John Keane on electric guitar and Jason Crosby on fiddle
[8] w/ John Keane on electric guitar and Jason Crosby on keys
– ‘Mission Impossible’ theme tease during ‘Pigeons’
– LTP ‘Degenerate’ 6/26/21 Red Rocks (132 shows)
– LTP ‘Heroes’ (David Bowie) 7/25/22 New York (82 shows)
