After stocking up on beer in Milwaukee, Widespread Panic took the scenic route to Las Vegas. Rumors circulated that they were camping out in the Valley of Fire State Park—“City of Dreams”-style. Others claimed that they were seen at the T-Mobile Arena for the Vegas Golden Knights hockey game on Wednesday. Another source claimed the band was spotted riding motorcycles down Las Vegas Boulevard. Regardless of the endless speculation on how the musicians of Widespread Panic spent their time last week, the boys were back on stage for the first of three nights at the Park Theater in the MGM Park Casino by 9:30 Pacific Time, doing what they do best: kicking ass and shredding faces.
The band opened with a casual stroll through the instrumental “The Take Out”. Halfway through, the bottom fell out and developed into a scorching rendition of Tom Waits‘ “Goin’ Out West” (“They got some money out there they are giving it away, gonna do what I want and I’m gonna get paid!”). John Bell, wearing a red flannel and a grizzly grey beard, provided some crisp lead vocals with Dave Schools supporting with backups. It took Jimmy Herring no time to take this jam to a higher plateau, indicating early on that this band did not come to mess around.
After a slight pause, in which John Bell instructed the sound technicians to “turn Jimmy Up,” JoJo Hermann’s keys and vocals took us through a funky-fried “Greta”. John Bell and Dave Schools supplemented the tune with backup vocals, growling sounds, and other animal howls. After another guitar lesson at warp speed, the music broke down into legendary bluesman Willie Dixon’s “Weak Brain, Narrow Mind”. Following the song’s explosive conclusion, a captivating John Bell introduced “Tickle the Truth”, which featured a beautiful tandem between Bell’s poetic lyrics and Herring’s lightning guitar licks as well as a hauntingly pristine piano by JoJo. Letting the excitement build, the band kicked into another romping instrumental, “B of D”, before annihilating a jagged version of “Sell, Sell” (“The next gonna be the best one of the year!”).
Jimmy Herring’s high-voltage guitar riffs nearly caused an electrical blackout, so the band let the equipment cool off before playing a beautiful ode to their late lead guitarist Michael “Mikey” Houser with the developmental jam, “Space Wrangler”. To conclude the first set, the boys settled into a suave cover of Steve Winwood’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy”, which hasn’t been played since Gentlemen’s Night last year in Atlanta.
Widespread Panic – “Dear Mr. Fantasy” [Steve Winwood cover]
[Video: WoodshedBlues]
Upon return, the boys pulled out all the stops, splitting up “Bust It Big” with an enthusiastic cover of Talking Heads‘ “Life During Wartime” as the the jam sandwich. “Life During Wartime” contained scathing irony within its lyrics, giving a darker meaning to the dance-infused rhythm. Even “Bust It Big” had a reason for its place in the set-list with an identical tone of social awareness (“Beware of the man who builds monuments to himself”).
The band didn’t linger on social commentary for long before moving on to brew the combustible concoction known to all as “Hatfield.” The song is based on the true story of a rainmaker being paid 10,000 dollars to cook up a rain potion for the drought-stricken city of Los Angeles. John Bell mesmerized with a whirlwind rap about how “Hatfield’s mama was making cookies, brewing beer, and playing a two-string banjo” while the children were playing “Cops and robbers… [and] combat.” The band kicked the tempo into high gear and never looked back, sizzling through “Junior”, a tribute to Junior Kimbrough, who is a musical peer on JoJo’s record label.
Maintaining the intensity, Widespread Panic aced a momentous “Papa’s Home” complete with an extended percussive breakdown in the middle of the song highlighting Duane Trucks and Sonny Ortiz. Duane wore a Col. Bruce Hampton shirt as he played with crashing precision. Without stopping, the Panics segued into the dizzying maelstrom of “Tie Your Shoes”.
After a short respite, the band kicked into “Gimme”, a sentimental tribute to longtime roadie Garrie Vareen’s birthday on which John Bell typically ad-libs the lyrics (“Gimme a lift here, Garrie, I’d give you my horse if I could”). A “Within You Without You” tease (for Garrie) was imbued into the smooth transition as an uplifting “Pleas” emerged. The background of stained glass on the state-of-the-art visual displays transformed the Park Theater into a sacred church for the band’s loyal disciples as holy music rang out from the elevated altar. To finish the second set, Dave Schools played the bouncing bass line of “Love Tractor” beneath the soaring guitar riffs of Herring to eventually shift songs flawlessly. The second set ended in explosive, barn-barning, boot-stomping Panic fashion with the crowd eagerly applauding and awaiting the encore.
The boys returned to the stage with John Bell gesturing toward JoJo to commence the harmonious beauty of “This Part of Town”, a song that captured the relatable feeling of not only the blues but also musical brotherhood as a whole with lyrics “Life can be that way. But don’t give up, don’t give up, no, ‘Cause where there is love, there is hope.” It’s also very relatable to gamblers with the lines “I’ve been up and I’ve been down”. Best of luck out there, goodpeople.
To end the first night of the Las Vegas run, Widespread Panic delivered a cover of Tom Petty’s “You Wreck Me” for the fourth time ever. The boys return to the stage tonight at the MGM Park, formerly known as the Montecarlo, to do the damn thing once again.
For more information, head to the band’s website. Below, you can check out a handful of photos from the show courtesy of Steve O’Brien.
Setlist: Widespread Panic | Park Theater | Las Vegas, NV | 10/26/18
Set One: The Take Out > Goin’ Out West, Greta > Weak Brain, Narrow Mind, Tickle the Truth, B of D, Sell Sell, Space Wrangler, Dear Mr Fantasy
Set Two: Bust It Big > Life During Wartime > Bust It Big, Hatfield, Junior, Papa’s Home > Drums > Papa’s Home > Tie Your Shoes, Gimme > Pleas > Love Tractor
Encore This Part of Town, You Wreck Me
Notes: ‘Dear Mr Fantasy’ LTP 12/30/17 Atlanta; ‘Within You Without You’ (Beatles) tease before ‘Pleas’
You can stream audio the show in its entirety via PanicStream.
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