Widespread Panic brought a five-night residency at New York City’s The Beacon Theatre to a close on Monday with a five-song encore. The sextet reeled off one cover after another to conclude the run with just the fourth five-song encore in the band’s 36-year history and second at a multi-set show.
Frontman John Bell led his bandmates through Dirty Side Down gem “Saint Ex” to get Monday’s concert underway. Guitarist Jimmy Herring took two fierce solos before “Saint Ex” dropped into the classic “Hatfield.” Herring then laid into the gorgeous riff that marks the start of “Pilgrims.” Next, Panic looked to 2001’s Don’t Tell The Band for an intense “This Part Of Town” before bringing the energy up with the funky “Thought Sausage” and the set’s lone cover, Murray McLaughlin’s “Honky Red.” The six-piece went on to take “Tie Your Shoes” deep via an exploratory jam starring keyboardist JoJo Hermann that eventually gave way to a set-closing “Blackout Blues.”
“Let’s stomp on this one, shall we?” exclaimed bassist Dave Schools before WSP delivered the instrumental “Disco” to start the final set of the residency. Up next was the rollicking “Big Wooly Mammoth” and a wild “Chilly Water” sequence that encapsulated “Surprise Valley” and “Arleen.” The first portion of “Surprise Valley” birthed an adventurous improvisation that strayed far from the song’s typical structure before the crowd-pleasing “Arleen.”
“Airplane” took flight after Panic wrapped “Surprise Valley” and “Chilly Water.” Herring shined on the “Take-Off Jam” out of “Airplane” as he unleashed a bevy of powerful riffs. The band then romped through oldies “Postcard” and “Conrad” to close the set.
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When Widespread Panic returned to the stage for the encore, John Bell thanked fans for making the residency happen and holding onto their tickets for a run that was postponed multiple times due to the pandemic. JB then helmed Col. Bruce Hampton’s “Basically Frightened,” which the sextet last played on November 2, 2019 in New Orleans as per PanicStream. The 40-minute encore rolled on with “Mountain Jam,” a tribute to The Allman Brothers Band, a group that hosted plenty of residencies at The Beacon.
Panic kept the covers coming with their take on Bloodkin’s “End Of The Show” featuring John Bell on mandolin. The six-piece then offered their first rendition of the Black Sabbath classic “Fairies Wear Boots” since October 27, 2018 and said goodbye to the NYC faithful by dusting off “Heroes” by David Bowie. WSP last played the title track to Bowie’s 1977 studio album way back on October 27, 2017 — a span of 147 shows.
Widespread Panic heads to Atlanta’s Fox Theatre next month to make up their postponed New Year’s Run. Check out fan-shot video footage featuring three of the five covers from last night’s encore below:
Setlist (via PanicStream)
Set One: Saint Ex > Hatfield, Pilgrims, This Part of Town, Thought Sausage, Honky Red, Tie Your Shoes > Blackout Blues (65 mins)
Set Two: Disco > Big Wooly Mammoth > Chilly Water > Surprise Valley > Arleen > Surprise Valley > Chilly Water, Airplane, Postcard, Conrad (82 mins)
Encore: Basically Frightened, Mountain Jam, End of the Show*, Fairies Wear Boots, Heroes (David Bowie) (40 mins)
* w/ JB on mandolin
Notes:
- – ‘Spanish Moon’ tease during ‘Tie Your Shoes’
- – ‘Day Tripper’ tease by JoJo after ‘Airplane’
- – ‘Basically Frightened’ LTP 11/02/19 NOLA (67 shows)
- – ‘Fairies Wear Boots’ LTP 10/27/18 Las Vegas (111 shows)
- – ‘Heroes’ (David Bowie version) LTP 10/27/17 Las Vegas (147 shows)
- [4th 5-song single encore; only 1 other was a multi-set show (11/19/88)]
