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Widespread Panic Honors The Legacy Of Late Friend “Bear” Guenther On First Night At RIDE Festival [Videos]

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Goliaths of jam rock and roll, Widespread Panic, returned to the stage to perform another knockout show as part of the newly added opening night of RIDE Festival. The festival occurs in the middle of the majestic Rocky Mountains in the historic ski town of Telluride and boasts a stacked line-up featuring Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit and BIG Something amongst a litany of other up-and-coming bands.

Widespread Panic took the stage around 7 pm as the daytime temperature began plummeting into a cool night in the mountain range. John Bell came out sporting his baseball cap backwards, foreshadowing the badass shit that was about to go down—even more so than the “Pilgrims” and “Chilly Water” soundcheck.

True to their nature as a psychedelic rock band, Panic opened with a loose introductory jam before carving out a delicious “Bust It Big” sandwich with Jorma Kaukonen‘s “Genesis” serving up a slab of juicy goodness in the heart of the progression. JoJo Hermann’s piano and vocals and Jimmy Herring’s guitar dominated the jam as it moved back into “Bust It Big”, the percussionists thundering out their rhythms. Keeping the tunes loaded with finger-lickin’ greasiness, Widespread cooked up “Contentment Blues” from their debut album, Space Wrangler, featuring a spirited John Bell boldly declaring his unshakable love for chicken.

A smooth transition into “You Got Yours” from 1997’s Bombs & Butterflies kept the heavy-hitters coming with Jimmy Herring starting to unleash his full potential. The musicians were really starting to percolate but took their foot off the pedal to nail an outstanding, sentimental take on “This Part of Town” from 2001’s Don’t Tell the Band. The song captured an unfathomable essence that is best summed up by the lyrical description of a woman telling a downtrodden man not to give up, reminding him that “Where there is love, there is hope.”

Widespread Panic – “You Got Yours”

[Video: Fred Ramadan]

Yet another crowd favorite, “Old Neighborhood”, celebrated the band’s return to this ol’ Colorado miner town for the first time in four years. A jaunty romp through Alan Price’s “Sell, Sell” gave Jimmy Herring space to explore the universe with his cosmic fretwork and lightspeed riffs. To wrap up the first set, John Bell got doggone dirty, leaving this blues-infused rendition of Willie Dixon’s “Taildragger” covered with muddy paw prints.

Opening the second set, Widespread Panic returned with an instrumental performance of the progressive “B of D” before jumping into “Up All Night” for a tribute to those trying to bridge the gap from dusk to dawn. Jimmy Herring continued to electrify, especially as the band divulged a soaring “Airplane”. With Herring in the cockpit and Dave Schools serving refreshments, the “Take Off Jam” was loaded with elevation changes, turbulence, and a crash-landing right into the distorted introduction of “Jaded Tourist” led by JoJo Hermann on lead vocals and keys.

Widespread held off on “Surprise Valley” at Red Rocks, which was performed at every prior run except two, in order to brazenly release the first verse into the Telluride skies (“Kiss the mountain air we breathe!”) before performing a thumpin’ “Bear’s Gone Fishin’”, the first of two tributes to fallen fan and friend of the band, Tom “Bear” Guenther.

[Photo Doug Kay via Curtis George – Tom “Bear” Guenther]

The legacy of Bear, a longtime resident of Telluride, was celebrated before the show on Friday as his ashes were spread into Bridal Veil Falls, and during the show with two songs whose creation he directly influenced. Dave Schools hammered out the deep, mystical grooves, patiently building the song into existence with a two-minute introduction. JB sang with the forgotten wisdom of an ancient soothsayer, captivating throughout this “unexpected moment of bliss.”

[Bridal Veil Falls]

Schools pushed the bottom end into overdrive, transitioning into a scorchin’ hot rendition of George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic’s “Red Hot Mama”. The crowd was uproarious, threatening to collapse through the surface of the mountain into the mineshaft below with all the boot-stompin’ and frenzied dancing. Jimmy Herring elevated a solo spanning the bridge between the two songs that was nothing short of incredible. JB howled, yelped, and growled, injecting his country take on George Clinton’s vocals while Schools provided the lunatic shrieks whenever he felt obliged.

As the bass and clavinet faded out, the stage was set for Duane Trucks and Sunny Ortiz to carve out their own meandering river of rhythms through the San Miguel Valley. They began with shovels in an arduous process before discovering an old mine cart full of dynamite and switching to higher grade explosives for a volatile finale.

As the lengthy “Drums” section wound down, the slow-tempo, psychedelic licks of another Funkadelic masterpiece, “Maggot Brain”, emerged from Jimmy Herring’s rig. Co-written by George Clinton and Eddie Hazel, this tune is revived once or twice a year to melt the faces and explode the minds of even the most veteran audience members. It was one of the many highlights of last night’s show and deserves many more relistens.

To finish out the second set, Widespread soared through the second verse of “Surprise Valley”—with Herring remaining unstoppable—before concluding the set with a rowdy reggae cover of Jerry Joseph’s “Chainsaw City”. JB was on point while executing the complex lyrics as the whole band stepped up to demolish this last song of the set before walking off the stage.

Upon returning for the encore, Widespread Panic floated into the beloved music of “Vacation” which ramped up into a bass-indulgent romp around the gold-enriched mountains. The Michael Houser tune contained the well-known lyrics: “As panic grabbed my legs, you know it, pulled me in” as well as the venue-relevant “the mountain looked like fun, I climbed to the sun. And from the peak, I got such a view, I forgot to hang on.”

[Photo via Curtis George]

For the first time ever, the band paired “Vacation” with “Postcard”, a second tribute to their fallen friend Thomas “Bear” Guenther. As the story goes, when Bear moved to Telluride many moons ago, he sent a postcard to WSP extolling the majesty of the town and surrounding mountains. The band took his exact words and crafted a song around them, giving him writing credits for his inspiration.

Widespread Panic – “Vacation”/”Postcard”

[Video: Fred Ramadan]

Widespread Panic cooked themselves an ass-kickin’ time on the inaugural first night of RIDE and breathed truth into the Hunter S. Thompson words: “Buy the Ticket; Take the RIDE!” The band continues their tour de force for a second night of debauchery ahead for the people lucky and wise enough to be in attendance. Let’s continue to show why we are the best audience, goodpeople, just as the band shows us time and time again why they are the best in the biz. Look out for one another, be safe, and have fun. Night two of Widespread Panic at Ride Festival ahead. Special thanks to Curtis George and Doug Kay for the pictures and backstories.

As always, you can stream a full audio recording of the show via PanicStream.

Setlist: Widespread Panic | RIDE Festival | Telluride, CO | 7/12/19

Set 1: Jam > Bust It Big > Genesis > Bust It Big, Contentment Blues > You Got Yours, This Part of Town, Old Neighborhood, Sell Sell, Tail Dragger (61 mins)

Set 2: B of D, Up All Night, Airplane > Take Off Jam > Jaded Tourist, Surprise Valley > Bear’s Gone Fishin’ > Red Hot Mama > Drums > Maggot Brain > Surprise Valley, Chainsaw City (84 mins)

Encore: Vacation, Postcard (14 mins)

Notes – ‘Bear’s Gone Fishin’ & ‘Postcard’ in memory of Tom “Bear” Guenther, who was a longtime friend of the band and inspiration of the songs; First time ‘Vacation’ & ‘Postcard’ have been paired in an encore together

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Source: L4LM.com