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Widespread Panic Brings Bluesy Grit, Fireworks Both Literal & Musical On First Night Of Trondossa 2019 [Videos]

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After leaving Atlanta in ruins at last weekend’s SweetWater 420 Fest, the six-piece leviathan known as Widespread Panic headed to North Charleston, South Carolina this for their Trondossa Music & Arts Festival at Riverfront Park.

The spacious outdoor stage provided food, drink, and even a prayer circle to assuage the temperamental spirits beyond. The sun flew high and bright while The Marcus King Band, the Wood Brothers, and Umphrey’s McGee warmed up the stage for the steadily arriving Trondossa guests. The smell of wood-chip smokers and smokey barbecue wafted lazily by the Cooper River to the side of the stage. Attendees were rewarded for their dedication with delicious brisket, cold refreshments, a cool breeze, and best of all, two nights of Widespread Panic. Edie Jackson was also on hand to interpret John Bell’s incantations in her unique dancing A.S.L.

Widespread Panic’s John Bell Talks Col. Bruce & The Art Of “Improvising Eloquently” Ahead Of Trondossa [Interview]

Kicking off their first of two two-set shows at Trondossa this weekend, Widespread performed a down and dirty rendition of “Tail Dragger”, written by Willie Dixon and popularized by Howlin’ Wolf. As a tribute to the slow-rolling river in the background, the band dove into “Proving Ground”, which demands, “Find out just how tall I am / by jumping in the middle of the river!” The engines rumbled to life as the jam heated up and the day cooled down as night fell.

A tribute to the community, “Good People”, followed with JoJo Hermann dancing his fingers all over his piano and JB proclaiming that, “We are the good people / the ones your grandma warned you about!” And the GoodPeople showed up as always, helping each other find lodging and rides to the shows to add that infectious energy that the band feeds on.

Jimmy Herring invoked the power of the lightning gods as Dave Schools represented the thunder with a sizzling “Weight of the World” before crushing another raunchy extended take on “Junior”. “Junior” was written by mixing several of Junior Kimbrough’s songs, who shared a record label with JoJo Hermann at Fat Possum Records. A tasty jam meandered its way into a hard-hitting “Rock”, adding another old-school classic to the setlist. “Blue Indian” made another mention to the haunted feel of the festival with “We gotta party goin’ on! / Many spirits strong!” To finish off the first set, Widespread Panic paid tribute to Tom Petty with a ripping version of “Honey Bee”.

After a short set break, Panic came back to the stage to cook up a salacious cauldron of sausage gumbo, eventually building up and breaking down before beckoning the audience to “Come and git it!” Dave Schools rode a heavy wave his bass notes plucked with the strength of a biblical golem throughout the psychedelic progressions of “Machine > Barstools and Dreamers”. This “Barstools” was particularly far out, with a glorious cross-fertilization of JoJo and Jimmy’s interplay. JB looked like he was primed to start a “Thank you” rap, but kept the vocals morphing to add to the detailed picture of the song’s imagery stored in banks of his cerebral cortex.

After teasing several different songs (“Space Wrangler”, “I’m Not Alone”, “Honky Red”), Jimmy Herring introduced Vic Chestnutt’s “Protein Drink / Sewing Machine”, emerging mid-set with a bass-laden jam powered with Schools jet fuel. Steve Lopez jumped onstage for an exhilarating cover of War’s “Slippin’ Into Darkness”, the audience responding raucously to the words “He loves to drink good whiskey / While laughing at the moon!” A breakdown gave Schools and JoJo the opportunity to inject the reggae rhythms of Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up”.

The muddy blues kept on rolling with another Howlin’ Wolf tune, “Smokestack Lightning”. JB must have eaten his chicken that morning, as his feral, gritty vocals continued to cut deep. Herring took off to intergalactic speeds and wavelengths as Schools began to wander down the Grateful Dead‘s “The Other One” rhythm. Bell returned us the southern plantations with a song as old as the Chicago blues with the scattered raptures of a chicken robber.
A long transition full of teases eventually revealed a rocked-out rendition of “Bust It Big”, the first JoJo song of the night. JoJo made it count with a lengthy ride down the river and up the gulf stream to New York City, the home of “Rosemary’s Baby”.

To close out the festival’s first night, the band embarked on a well-timed stroll down “Walkin’ (For Your Love)”. The concluding walk included a long pause which cued the onset of a ballistic barrage of fireworks. While the boats on the river never saw the return of the visual board (which had an amoebic pumping blood-like visual), they sure as hell enjoyed the firework show behind the stage. Remaining in the shadows of the fireworks, the band slammed home an equally explosive finish to “Walkin’” as soon as last gunpowder echo faded.

The “Slippin’ > Smokestack > Bust It Big > Walkin’” was the heart and soul this performance, stacking the jams into a monster mosaic of musical madness. Both harmonious and, at times chaotic, John Bell and Widespread Panic continued to casually unleash unholy jams of divine proportions to “build you up just to break you down”. The band will return to Riverfront Park to do it all again for the Trondossa crowd tonight.

You can check out a selection of crowd-shot videos from the performance below:

Widespread Panic – “Protein Drink / Sewing Machine”

[Video: Fred Ramadan]

Widespread Panic – “Honeybee” [Tom Petty cover]

[Video: Fred Ramadan]

Widespread Panic – “Smokestack Lightnin’” [Howlin’ Wolf cover]

[Video: Fred Ramadan]

As always, you can stream full audio of the performance via PanicStream.

Setlist: Widespread Panic | Trondossa Music & Arts Festival | North Charleston, SC | 4/27/19

Set One: Tail Dragger, Proving Ground, Good People, Weight of the World, Junior > Jam > Rock, Blue Indian, Honey Bee (60 mins)

Set Two: Thought Sausage, Machine > Barstools and Dreamers, Protein Drink / Sewing Machine, Slippin’ Into Darkness* > Smokestack Lightning > Jam > Bust It Big > Walkin’ (For Your Love)** (88 mins)

Notes * w/ Steve Lopez on percussion
** Fireworks began during pause and continued until end

[‘Get Up, Stand Up” jam during ‘Slippin’ Into Darkness’; ‘The Other One’ jam during ‘Smokestack Lightning’; Entire show with Edie Jackson, ASL interpreter]


If you’re in North Charleston for Trondossa, don’t miss a very special ROBOTRIO & Friends‘ late-night at Charleston Pour House tonight, Sunday, April 28th, featuring Ryan Stasik & Jake Cinninger (Umphrey’s McGee), The Royal Horns (The Marcus King Band), Kanika Kay Kay Moore & Mike Quinn (Doom Flamingo), & more.

For tickets and more info, head here.

ROBOTRIO

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