On Sunday, Widespread Panic, the swampiest sextet in rock n’ roll, performed one last summer show to a ravenous audience of 12,000 on their second of two nights at Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, FL. After leaving the acoustics in Nashville, it has become apparent over the last two nights that the band could not wait to plug in and get loud.
Getting down to it, Panic opened with the ode to the community, “GoodPeople”, from the 2006 Earth to America release. It should be noted that they skipped the “Dark Bar” section that has shown up at Red Rocks and again at St. Augustine’s run this summer. Widespread followed that up by rifling through a cover of Tom Petty’s “You Wreck Me”, marking its 8th Panic appearance since Petty’s death in October of 2017.
The band moved into their repertoire from there for a trio of treasured originals. A lead-off home run emerged in the form of a breezy “Holden Oversoul” which gave Jimmy Herring and the rest of the band space to roam. John Bell sang from the depths of his vocal rocking chair on the seasonal lyrics: “Summer was all there was,” “Riding to the ground on fallen leaves,” and “A new air pushed a full wind / That brought worlds on through,” reminding the audience of both the approaching hurricane and the coming autumn.
Dave Schools bounced through the beat of beloved “Little Lilly” right into the bass-heavy stroll down “Walkin’ (For Your Love)”. John Bell and Schools’ echoes of “It’s only real if you believe” gave way to a piano- and bass-led carousel ride through “Walkin’” with JB singing lead and JoJo Hermann and Schools harmonizing in support. The performance featured a coordinated pause which allowed a stanza of silence before reviving the tune to hammer home one last time.
Turning the heat up on the thermostat, JoJo’s clavinet sizzled through the introduction of Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime” before Duane Trucks joined in, followed shortly thereafter by a zealous John Bell. Herring took the crowd to a galaxy eons in the future before returning them back to Pensacola 2019 with brains leaking through their ears from the pressure of time travel. Getting nasty, the opening notes of WSP’s interpretation of Murray McLauchlan’s “Honky Red” blazed with twice the fiery infernal hellfire described by Dante.
JoJo led the angelic band and crowd of believers into the Rapture with a hard-hitting “Bust It Big” that threatened to take the whole venue into the ascension. At the gates stood not Saint Peter, but the White Wizard and Dave Schools. They were judging the worthiness of a candidate by seeing how well they endure against high-voltage riffs, shelling out measure after measure of pure electricity. An ungodly call-and-response duel between Schools and JoJo funkified the song with a dirty improvised section. Herring jumped in to ice this mind-blowing cake before Sunny Ortiz and Duane Trucks handed out concussive blows to their drum kits as this song broke down and built itself into a 13-minute mollywhopper of a jam.
To close the first set, Widespread segued into a bouncing ride on their “Love Tractor” built during their self-titled second album. Jimmy Herring snuck in a few measures of a fast-paced “Layla”, the beautiful brainchild of Eric Clapton, Derek and the Dominos, and Duane Allman, before returning to conclude “Love Tractor” with a sizzle and bang.
The second set came out of the gates swinging with JB stirring in a saucy “Thought Sausage” while Dave Schools churned links of notes out of his low-end meat grinder. The jam built in flavor and intensity—both simmering on low heat and cookin’ on high while stirring—until John Bell beckoned us into his country kitchen to taste the gumbo with a “Come on, Git it!” The percussionists rolled into J.J. Cale’s “Travelin’ Light” to remind the audience about the “only way to fly” before the swinging introduction of “All Time Low” tumbled forth to take “its spot in time.” Jimmy Herring began to accelerate into overdrive near the end of the song, culminating in a wild jam with JoJo on piano for an extended, improvised rollercoaster ride.
After fading down, Duane and Sunny chiseled out the opening structure to “Hatfield”, Widespread’s interpretation of the story of Hatfield the Rainmaker, who was paid $10,000 by the city of Los Angeles to end a severe drought (JB found the story in a Farmer’s Almanac). Concocted bouts of precipitation, lightning strike jams, and a spirited JB played the part of Hatfield the Rainmaker on this second track off Everyday. After an intense musical build-up rolled onward like a long-gone thunderstorm, JB dug his heels deep into his rap describing Hatfield’s mama—“a big, beautiful German lady”—as well as other quick-lipped ravings of a man possessed, overcome by his visions of a childhood summertime long ago.
Herring passed the torch to JoJo, who transitioned into the bawdy, barroom anthem, “Blackout Blues” off their ‘94 album Ain’t Life Grand. (“Woke up in your bed this morning / You were passed out on the floor!”). As the intoxicating song wound down, the transcendental “Pilgrims” was awakened to remind the audience that “we listen / if it feels good / we shake”. Jimmy Herring navigated the waters with fluid grace as JB gave the chills, testing the listeners’ tear ducts and emotional range.
Hammering the second set to a rowdy conclusion, the hard-driven, Christmas version of “Papa’s Home” was performed straight-through before segueing into a scorching “Red Hot Mama”. As the dancey section of “Papa’s” accelerated further and further into the far reaches of the universe, Dave Schools grounded the music by pummeling his bass with the distinguished rhythm of George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic’s tune, adding an extra funky jam to give it some of that smoky Panic flavor. Widespread finished off the second set with a fast-paced, “moon-time” rendition of Space Wrangler classic “Porch Song” with a “few good cats to help me pass the day.”
The Pensacola audience got a rare encore blessing from the band by way of “May Your Glass Be Filled” off Earth to America, which has only been played twice since New Year’s Eve of last year. With the hurricane looming ominously on the southern horizon, Widespread Panic closed out the show with a cover of Jerry Joseph’s “Climb to Safety”. Co-written by Glenn Esparza, the relevant lyrics call to: “Climb to safety / Feel the water rising, Let me be your ladder / Climb to safety / I promise you’ll be dry and never be alone” and encourage the listeners to “Grab each other’s collars / we must rise out of the water.”
Widespread Panic’s tour takes an autumnal hiatus before their annual three-night run in Milwaukee on October 25th-27th and their long-awaited return to New Orleans for a Halloween run on October 31st–November 2nd. These shows will surely be can’t miss runs for the fervent army of enthusiastic fans. Until next time, Goodpeople:
“May your family share laughter / Your songs always play.
May your wishes come true / Even those left unprayed”
As always, you can stream a full recording of the show via Panicstream.com, or give it a listen below:
Watch a selection of crowd-shot videos from the show below via YouTube user Fred Ramadan:
As always, you can stream a full audio recording of the show via PanicStream or give it a listen below:
Widespread Panic – 9/1/19 – Full Audio
[Audio: Widespread Panic]
Setlist: Widespread Panic | Pensacola Bay Center | Pensacola, FL | 9/1/19
Set One: Good People, You Wreck Me, Holden Oversoul, Little Lilly, Walkin’ (For Your Love), Life During Wartime, Honky Red, Bust It Big > Love Tractor (67 mins)
Set Two: Thought Sausage, Travelin’ Light, All Time Low, Hatfield, Blackout Blues, Pilgrims, Papa’s Home > Red Hot Mama > Papa’s Home > Porch Song (76 mins)
Encore: May Your Glass Be Filled, Climb To Safety (12 mins)