Resuming its conquest of glory and debauchery, Widespread Panic dropped anchor in St. Augustine harbor for the weekend. Settled in 1565, the oldest city in America continues to reap the rewards as a haven for the Panic faithful. The road-hardened veterans of rock n’ roll, WSP, kicked off shoes to bathe in Florida’s sunshine and the waters of the Fountain of Youth, once more.

Like a phoenix, Panic made its glorious return to the stage in Atlantic City, NJ last month after Jimmy Herring’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent seven-month hiatus. As more WSP shows fill the calendar year, it seems the re-energized band is going to keep doing what it always does: bring the community together, play music, and honor its past, all while having some good, clean fun.

Sunshine and smiles filled the venue as friends reconnected with a blissful indifference toward everything but the weekend ahead. John Bell—with sunglasses and backward hat—foreshadowed the greatness to come.

Once the raucous crowd settled down, Duane Trucks led the count-in with his cymbals before the rest of the band jumped in and blazed into an opening “Disco”. The instrumental rollercoaster ride coasted into the fan-favorite, “Diner”. Jimmy Herring shredded his first true solo of the weekend, injecting pure rocket fuel into the sound.

The crowd joined JB on vocals until the frontman voyaged into unchartered swamps during an improvised rap, where none could possibly follow. Last night was the first time in ten years that Panic opened a show with this old-school pairing of “Disco” > “Diner”.

The classics kept flowing as JoJo Hermann and Dave Schools swung the melody into a serene “C. Brown”. After pausing for barely a moment, JoJo’s keys concocted a restorative “Good People”, a possible tip-of-the-cap to the fabled Fountain of Youth nearby. (“Here are your waters, so drink / and be whole again.”) In the middle of the song, JoJo commandeered the vocal duties for an esoteric “Dark Bar” interlude.

Schools, Trucks, and Sonny Ortiz chiseled out a rhythmic nook to thrive in for a handful of jammed-out measures until accelerating the tempo back into “Good People”. JoJo stayed at the helm, his piano in the forefront during a jaunty “Cotton was King”.  After pausing to catch its breath, WSP closed the first set with consecutive Bloodkin covers as “Can’t Get High” tumbled into the rolling funeral procession of “Henry Parsons Died”.

Back for round two, a triumphant “Little by Little” rang loud and true as a testament to the patience and resiliency of bouncing back after a setback. (“Bit by bit / little by little / step by step!”) Appropriately, it was Jimmy Herring who branded his mark into a solo section with clarity and purpose.

Not waiting long, Schools broke the silence to meander through the switchback trails of his opus, “Stop-Go”. During the song’s extended jam, JoJo and Schools teased Grateful Dead’s “Fire on the Mountain” and John Bell chirped a succinct rap inspired by Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”.

Widespread Panic — “Stop-Go” — 3/21/25

[Video: Brad Walker]

The bassist stayed in control for what seemed like most of the second set, steering the music into back-to-back heavy cuts, Tom Waits’ “Goin’ Out West” and “Rock” in succession. The crowd remained locked in and lent their vocals for an enthusiastic collaboration. Letting the music echo into the void, JoJo weighed anchor and “headed down to the Gulf” and “rolled out with the morning tide” during WSP’s twelfth performance of “Tacklebox Hero”.

When Schools retook direction control, he plotted a course directly into the murky depths of extended, leviathan jams. Schools led the vocal charge into the blues traditional “One Kind Favor” for the first time since the hell-fire night four of WSP’s 2022 Beacon Theatre run.  Throwing teases into the mix, Willie Dixon’s “Wang Dang Doodle” and Grateful Dead’s “The Other One” both made a brief appearance amid the musical maelstrom.

Widespread Panic — “One Kind Favor” — 3/21/25

[Video: Robbie Massengill]

WSP continued through the second set without stopping as “Fishwater” eventually devolved into “Drums”. Dave Schools slid down the neck of his bass guitar creating a haunting sound before delivering the spoken word introduction to Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain”. The psychedelic instrumental has typically been played without the spoken word since its debut as an encore during 1992’s Halloween at the Georgia Theatre.

Widespread Panic — “Maggot Brain” (Funkadelic) — 3/21/25

[Video: Brad Walker]

[Video: Mr Topdogger]

Nearing the end, Panic covered Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” with full participation from the rowdy crowd. Not quite done yet, the drummers descended back into the funky reprise of “Fishwater”, complete with its barrage of bass notes and call-and-response between Schools’ scat-like, do-waps and JB’s echoing croons.

Back onstage for the encore, Widespread Panic covered Talking Heads’ fervent “Life During Wartime” as a standalone finale. Ironically, WSP began the show with “Disco” and concluded it with the lyrics “This ain’t no disco.” The literary pranksters flipped the switch on previously accepted worldviews as diehard fans and pundits remain baffled as they debate the contrarian themes to bookend night one in St. Augustine.

No fret though, there’s still two more nights ahead and plenty of music to come. Be safe, take care of each other, and don’t feed the gators. Godspeed, Goodpeople.

Setlist: Widespread Panic | St. Augustine Amphitheatre | St. Augustine, FL | 3/21/25

Set One: Disco > Diner > C Brown, Good People > Dark Bar > Good People, Cotton Was King, Can’t Get High (Bloodkin) > Henry Parsons Died (Bloodkin) (62 mins)
Set Two: Little By Little, Stop-Go > Goin’ Out West (Tom Waits) > Rock, Tackle Box Hero, One Kind Favor > Fishwater > Drums > Maggot Brain (Funkadelic) > For What It’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield) > Fishwater (89 mins)
Encore: Life During Wartime (Talking Heads) (7 mins)

– LTP ‘Disco>Diner’ opener 3/17/15 Portland

– ‘Fire On The Mountain’ tease during ‘Stop-Go’

– ‘Three Little Birds’ rap during ‘Stop-Go’

– LTP ‘One Kind Favor’ 7/24/22 New York (84 shows)

– ‘Wang Dang Doodle’ and ‘The Other One’ teases during ‘One Kind Favor’

– LTP ‘Maggot Brain’ 4/18/23 Austin (47 shows)