After marching North on the nation’s capital and the biggest city in the country, Widespread Panic returns to the southern side of the Mason-Dixie for a three-night stay in Durham, North Carolina. The town is home to the Duke Blue Devils who are currently battling through the gauntlet that is the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils game against Virginia Tech coincided with the starting time of the show; the fanatic energy cross-pollinated adding to the chaos of a Widespread Panic show. The band chose the Durham Performing Arts Center – DPAC for an intimate show for 2,700 lucky fans in a newly-built, and acoustically pristine venue.

Getting it going in Durham, Widespread introduced the first night in the same way they opened disc two of Light Fuse, Get Away–with a swampy take on the Talking Heads’ “Papa Legba” with Jimmy Herring playing the part of the voodoo deity. Herring kept sizzling throughout a nasty rendition of “Junior” with Dave Schools echoing JB’s raunchiness. “Junior” was written by mixing several of Junior Kimbrough’s songs, who shared a record label with JoJo Hermann at Fat Possum Records. Nonstop action continued as JoJo took the control of this unstoppable force with a classic performance of “One Armed Steve” reliving his first show with the band. A funky transition highlighted Schools’ telekinetic abilities as his powerful fingers crushed out the melodies. Another original was added to the sequence with a saucy “Old Neighborhood” before coming to a resounding stop.

Fellow Georgia rockers, Bloodkin, lent the next piece of the setlist with a sweet “Can’t Get High” that JB absolutely annihilated. Jerry Joseph co-wrote the next tune “Time Zones” which JB remained possessed until JoJo came out of left field with a dazzling piano solo. Taking “Old Joe” off the shelf, Widespread mellowed the vibe as JB brushed off the cobwebs with his slightly creepy awesomeness. The original from Don’t Tell the Band hasn’t been played since 2017’s Red Rocks run, over sixty shows ago.

To end the solid first set, Widespread Panic combined two original crowd favorites that have been staples to their repertoire since the 80’s. Dave Schools led the way down a scenic “Stop-Go” with JB strutting and crowing along the way. The intensity carried into a phenomenal “Rock” which ended with a sizzling JB and Schools call-and-response as Duane Trucks punctuated the beat. With a nod and a wave, the band disentangled themselves from their instruments and went backstage to watch the end of the UNC v. Auburn game.

Right on cue, as Auburn pulled off a surprising upset over UNC, the Panic men reemerged from the shadows to resume the destruction of this beautiful theater. Continuing the trend of instrumental openers, Widespread Panic performed a lengthy “Happy” which built in speed and intensity until Herring engaged the thrusters and took the metaphorical spaceship into light speed. To follow, the Panics played an unusual cover of The Meters’ “Ain’t No Use” before transitioning into an inverted introduction of Vic Chesnutt’s “Blight.” The big devil, Schools, opted for fiendish laughs instead of political jabs after the second verse and maintained a commanding grasp over the song.

As a nod to Opening Day and the new season of baseball, Widespread played a bouncing “Rebirtha” sporting lyrics of “Since the big leagues left us dry” and “I know a town where real life’s a game / and baseball’s all that’s real / At night all the faces light up / as the players take the field.” Like bacon sizzling on the skillet, WSP kept the tasty jams coming with a suave segue into “Tall Boy” featuring a tandem vocal attack from JB and JoJo. They continued to tag-team the vocal duties for a sexy “Visiting Day” with JoJo admitting “I’ll sing a sad song / if you get me high!”. Another baseball reference–we all know how much JoJo loves his baseball (for more information: see Mets hat that graces his head 90% of the time since 1990) was touched upon with the lyrics of “Eatin’ chicken / on a hill / with Will” which refers to Willie Stargell of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates notoriety.

From Wikipedia:

Bob Prince, the colorful longtime Pirate radio announcer, would greet a Stargell home run with the phrase “Chicken on the Hill”. This referred to Stargell’s ownership of a chicken restaurant in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. For a time, whenever he homered, Stargell’s restaurant would give away free chicken to all patrons present in the restaurant at the time of the home run, in a promotion dubbed “Chicken on the Hill with Will”. Prince himself once promised free chicken to listeners if Stargell hit a home run; Stargell did homer and Prince picked up a $400 bill at the restaurant.

A gravity-defying “Surprise Valley” was half-way released before a wild ride of a jam that had several teases–including “Vacation”. Remaining in the realms of insanity, Widespread played a “Greta” that transformed the audience into a “pack of rabid dogs” led by the howling dire-wolf, Dave Schools. Duane Trucks and Sonny Ortiz beat their percussion kits in an amalgamated rhythm building momentum until the second half of “Surprise Valley” was ready to retake flight. To close the second set, Dave Schools led a romp through their harrowing interpretation of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis with a bass-heavy “Imitation Leather Shoes”.

Though many expected a “Me and the Devil Blues” to honor Duke’s basketball team, Widespread Panic returned to stage to play a length “Diner” encore for the first time in this setlist position since 1993. JB rapped a smooth “kicked out of my bed early this morning” rap that riled up the audience which had the same energy and passion as the Cameron Crazies. Icing the night, JoJo Hermann transitioned into an uplifting cover of Billy Joe Shaver’s “Chunk of Coal” with the promise that “I’m gonna be a diamond someday.”

Small note that both of these encores had the word “blue” in them with “even time she gets covered in blues” and “I’m gonna glow and grow / ‘Til I’m so blue, pure perfect”. Whether this was in honor of the Blue Devils or not, it has yet to be determined. As the band left the stage, the crowd shuffled off to catch the closing minutes of Duke v. Virginia Tech as Duke survived for the second week in a row with their opponent missing the buzzer beater lay-up tip-in. Duke plays Michigan State tomorrow in the Elite Eight; a wise man can bet his bottom dollar that “Me and The Devil Blues” will appear sometime before the end of the run.

“Tall Boy”

[Video: Bob Law]

The six-piece powerhouse of rock and roll returns tonight for the second night at DPAC. Music started at 8 ET last night, and you can expect the same for tonight. As with every show from the past two weekends, Saturday will bring the heat, and Sunday will leave you in pieces. Round 2 tonight, have fun, be safe.

Setlist: Widespread Panic | Durham Performing Arts Center | Durham, North Carolina | 3/29/19

Set 1: Papa Legba, Junior, One Arm Steve > Jam > Old Neighborhood, Can’t Get High, Time Zones, Old Joe, Stop Go > Rock (63 mins)

Set 2: Happy, It Ain’t No Use > Blight, Rebirtha > Jam, Tall Boy, Visiting Day, Surprise Valley > Jam > Greta > Lil’ Drums > Surprise Valley, Imitation Leather Shoes (95 mins)

Encore: Diner > Chunk of Coal (19 mins)

Notes [‘Old Joe’ LTP 6/23/17 Red Rocks (65 shows); LTP ‘Diner’ in encore 10/11/93 Columbus, GA]