The kings of all things jam rock in Widespread Panic cracked open their New Year’s Eve festivities on familiar stomping grounds onstage at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA on Friday. The band’s Georgia roots run deep as this homecoming celebration gave every Panic-loving swamper from far and wide to be the belle of the ball, even if only for a few nights.

The sextet emerged onstage to raucous applause as John Bell humbly welcomed the audience. Triumphantly, WSP launched into a slew of originals with an opening “Ain’t Life Grand” descending into the dark bass reverberations of “Imitation Leather Shoes”.

After a brief pause, drummer Duane Trucks, who turned 35 on Thursday, built into the hellbent rhythms of “Rock”. Just after the halfway point, Jimmy Herring sliced the tune in half with his mighty axe. JB and Dave Schools led the song to its natural conclusion by chanting a hearty call and response section to the thundering sound of Trucks’ bass drum.

Without missing a beat, Duane and Sunny Ortiz’s percussion carried the momentum into a classic cut of “Wondering”. JoJo Hermann’s piano blazed the trail into the first half of “Goodpeople” before changing direction and bypassing his usual pitstop at the dive bar and instead electing to lend a hand to a piano-laden rendition of “One Arm Steve”. As Panic returned to the grooves of “Goodpeople”, it marked the first time ever that 1AS interjected GP.

Winding down the set, Panic performed the first cover of the night during a revamped and rowdy run-through of Murray McLauchlan’s “Honky Red”. Spinning through the color wheel from red to blue, JoJo’s piano colored a swirling blur of revelry and uncorked the bawdiness of a honky-tonk bar to close out the first frame.

The ravenous fans waited with patient anticipation during set break and greeted Panic with wild enthusiasm upon their reappearance onstage. Widespread Panic rewarded their unwavering loyalty with a filthy set packed with relentless jams, grit, and gumption.

Kicking down the door of the second set, a monster “Little by Little” was performed for only the fifth time since its debut at the Orion Amphitheatre earlier this year. Last night’s rendition felt like the fledgling song had begun to click into place as the band members felt more comfortable during the melody changes, combining their energy to bludgeon the audience with the force of a dropkick.

Only twice in set two did WSP stop between songs, both before and after, the subsequent “Porch Song”. After that, the hounds were unleashed, and the race was on. Vic Chesnutt’s “Aunt Avis” pierced through even the most stoic of hearts before Schools’ pulsating bass led the group into the murky depths of “Second Skin”. Without stopping, Panic rocked out on an extended Zambi-inspired jam that delved well beyond the arguments of Type I and II and into the depths of the unknown—appropriate considering Col. Bruce Hampton’s final show was on the same stage.

As an added treat, WSP sprinkled in a tease of The Beatles’ “Within You Without You” into the sounds until phasing back toward the secular realms of a fervent “Tie Your Shoes”. The instrumental “Party At Your Mama’s House” provided room to explore once more before cooking with fire with a trio of heavy hitters that started with a combo wombo of J.J. Cale’s “Ride Me High” and Parliament Funkadelic’s “Red Hot Mama”. (RMH > RHM)

Still unfinished, Widespread embarked on a four-day train ride to New Orleans for a raunchy “Fishwater” set closer. However, JB wasn’t ready to move on and tacked on a “Red Hot Mama” reprise during the beginning of “Fishwater”. The crowd wasn’t ready to move on either and soaked it all up appreciatively. But all good things must come to an end and after nearly 65 minutes of uninterrupted jams, Sunny’s percussions, Schools’ scat raps, and a final call and response breakdown (“Mo’! Mo’! Mo’!”) the second set came to a righteous end.

Friday night’s encores featured two Doors covers that were played five times between both songs. JoJo’s organ broke the silence to introduce the first Doors encore “Soul Kitchen”. JoJo’s fingers weaved the quick minarets of Ray Manzarek for the first time since Panic’s touring days during the finale of 2016’s Fall Tour at Broomfield’s first night of Halloween and only the third time ever. Continuing in the same vein, JB invoked Jim Morrison’s charisma and style for a saucy “Roadhouse Blues”, improvising with a southern slant “Feel a little mud / between our toes.” This performance marked only the second time ever that Widespread Panic covered this Doors tune following its debut at Panic En La Playa Diez in 2022.

This is just the beginning of what will be another memorable WSP NYE run in Atlanta. Let it roll baby, roll! Two more nights ahead. Godspeed, Goodpeople. Check out a gallery of images from Friday’s show courtesy of photographer Emily Butler below.

Widespread Panic – “Ain’t Life Grand” – 12/29/23

[Video: Concert Club]

Widespread Panic – “Soul Kitchen” (The Doors) > “Roadhouse Blues” (The Doors) – 12/29/23

[Video: MrTopdogger]

Widespread Panic – Fox Theatre – Atlanta, GA – 12/29/23 – Full Audio

Setlist: Widespread Panic | Fox Theatre | Atlanta, GA | 12/29/23

Set One: Ain’t Life Grand, Imitation Leather Shoes, Rock > Wondering, Goodpeople > One Arm Steve > Goodpeople, Honky Red (Murray McLauchlan), Blackout Blues (50 mins)

Set Two: Little By Little, Porch Song, Aunt Avis (Vic Chesnutt) > Second Skin > Zambi Jam > Tie Your Shoes > Party At Your Mama’s House > Ride Me High (J.J. Cale) > Red Hot Mama (Parliament-Funkadelic) > Fishwater (90 mins)

Encore: Soul Kitchen (The Doors) > Roadhouse Blues (The Doors) (9 mins)

Notes:

– First ‘Good People’ sandwich with ‘One Arm Steve’

– ‘Red Hot Mama’ chorus during ‘Fishwater’ intro

– LTP ‘Soul Kitchen’ (The Doors) 10/30/16 Broomfield (234 shows) – 3rd time overall

– LTP ‘Roadhouse Blues’ (The Doors) 01/25/22 Playa (83 shows) – 2nd time overall