A Fan Review of Widespread Panic – 4/11/2008 – 4/13/2008 – Auditorium Theatre – Chicago, IL

By Duncan Goodman

What a great time had by all in Chicago. Maybe the weather wasn’t the best and no, the Cubs weren’t in town, but that didn’t take away from any of the excitement or especially, any of the fun! We got three very solid shows from a band that is sounding quite good after only playing a total of 6 shows over the past 3 months. This is my review of the weekend.

Friday:
Set I:

They came out of the gates swinging with Ain't Life Grand and Mr. Soul. I will take an ALG whenever I can get it as long as it's not at the end of a set. There are a lot of songs that can be considered cliche closers and ALG is at the top of that list. Tickle was appropriately placed after a ROCKING Mr. Soul and before dropping into Diner. As much of a fan of Diner as I am, I think that it still needs a lot of work with Jimmy and Friday night was definitely not his best work on Diner. I've heard him play it a lot better in the past. There were a couple times throughout where he just needed to slow down because he sounded like a machine gun (See: Gmac). Jojo did take us out of Diner with a nice clavinet jam though.

C Brown was up next and was segued from Diner flawlessly. Visiting Day came after C Brown and the crowd went crazy. At this point everyone was finally inside the venue and settled in. I remember turning around several times and seeing nothing but fist pumping. What great energy from everybody! The Jam out of VD into Happy was the first of many teases throughout the weekend and was one of the highlights of the first set for me. If they weren't about to bust into Guilded, they weren't going to play anything. Jojo led with another clavinet jam while Schools played the Guilded bass line. Unfortunately it never happened. This obviously just set us up for later in the weekend though!

From VD and the Guilded Tease they segued into Happy. This was another highlight of the first night for me and besides the Heroes closer was the highlight of the first set. Jimmy nailed it from start to finish although his solo at the end of the song was top notch and right on! May Your Glass Be Filled came next and was very appropriately placed. I've heard way too many MYGBF > ? encores over the last 3-4 years. Setting us up for the heat to end the first set was A-OK with me. Heroes closed us out and I can't think of a better first set closer! It was loud and rowdy from the first note and I'm not talking about the song. This was a great way to come out of the gates for the first night of Chicago.

Set II:

Ribs and Whiskey was fun for second set opener. It's not my favorite song, especially after being pulled out of the vault at MSG in 2003 and now played every 4 shows, but it's a crowd favorite and once again, the energy of the fans in Chicago was out of this world! Who doesn't love JB on the slide too!

Travelin' Man was up next and the Jam out of TM was our second tease of the night and was also very obvious. VACATION!!! Unlike the Guilded Tease this was quite obvious that this was only a tease.

After Travelin' Man was Rebirtha and this was my personal highlight of the set. Rebirtha always has the potential to be big and this Rebirtha did not let us down. The Rebirtha Jam took us from some great work by Jimmy to a big solo by Schools who finally made himself heard! The end of the jam turned into the Outro Jam from Pilgrims and this was more than just a tease. The entire band was full on playing Pilgrims! The only question was whether they would stop and start the song or move onto something else. The question was answered when they finished the end of Pilgrims, stopped playing completely, and then had Herring lead into the beginning of Pilgrims. This was the first time that I had ever heard an inverted Pilgrims and it was sick, not to even mention that this is the WSP Original that Jimmy does the best work on! So, we got to hear the Pilgrims Jam twice. I wasn't complaining!

They segued Dyin' Man from Pilgrims and even threw a little JH Space in between for good measure to not give away what they were seguing into. Dyin' Man was a nice breather after such an intense Rebirtha. After Dyin' Man came a mini drums where everyone stayed on stage. Sunny even teased Fishwater a little and it left everyone in suspense whether Fishwater was coming or not. Luckily the boys did not disappoint and they dropped it! Fishwater is always one of my favorites and the crowd energy was off the charts. Not to critique the song too much but it wasn't one of their best. There was nothing wrong with the body of the song but the Jam after the mini drums in the middle of the song lacked energy and substance. In my opinion, the best Fishwaters are when Schools just lets loose out of that mini drums and this was not one of them. Jojo did lead us out with another nice funky clavinet jam but nothing too spectacular and they segued into Thin Air. This is an old George song that I never minded too much and I think that it's even better now.

To close the set was Last Dance, and honestly, I cringed for a second. As big of a fan of this song as I am, I CAN'T STAND THE CROWD PARTICIPATION! All that I could do was to brace myself for it. What I hadn't taken into account was how loud it was in the Auditorium Theatre and how the band didn't even give the crowd the chance to participate. I'm still at a loss how they were able to pull this off - not as many chances to "Whew" maybe - but it was nowhere near as noticeable as it was in Birmingham 5 months earlier. I love Jimmy on the slow jam at the end of the song and also prefer hearing Last Dance the first night of a run as opposed to the last night. "Wake Up... Time To Go To Work" takes on a whole different meaning the first night of a run as opposed to the last night.

Encore:

The encore (Time Waits, Tallboy) left a lot to be desired although the energy level was back to high for Tallboy. Tallboy is just not one of my personal favorites.

I think that this first night was my least favorite out of the three shows. I don't think that the show was as good as the setlist dicated on paper and the encore left a lot to be desired. Before you start laying into me about Saturday's first set and how bad it was, take a look at Saturday's second set and encore.

SATURDAY:

I dont't think that I talked to a single person about Saturday's show that was optimistic going in. With the show being simulcast on XRT and not only going out to all of Chicago but also going out on the internet, I don't think that anyone had a reason to be optimistic. We set the over/under at 4.5 songs from Free Somehow before the show. Who knew that it would be under, and way under!

Set I:

PIGEONS! Way to come crashing out of the gates again! Yes! This may be the best Pigeons that I've heard with Jimmy. Where he been too fast in the past and especially on Diner on Friday night, he seems to have slowed down and was holding notes longer. This really seemed evident during Pigeons and his solo towards the end of the song was one of the highlights of the first set. Climb to Safety was up next and wasn't bad. This is another cliche closer that you don't see close sets as often anymore. Personally, I thought that it was alright.

Why they play Papa Johnny Road without the new Jimmy Outro Jam nowadays is mind boggling. Like One Arm Steve, PJR is one of those songs that Jimmy has helped to revive. They didn't jam out PJR and segue it like I'd always heard Jimmy do before, and this was tough to grasp.

Time Zones has never really done it for me. Crippled Inside is a cover that I'm not very fond of either, but I think that's because I've caught almost all of them. Thought Sausage really has taken on a new life with Jimmy and I'm enjoying it. This was a song that I wasn't particularly fond of with even with Mikey but I really enjoy it with Jimmy. I wish that I could elaborate more but I don't know why.

There was a long intro into Mercy and the song was indistinguishable for a good while, but boy was I excited when I realized that it was Mercy! Here we go! Let's close out the set strong!! Mercy did live up to my expectations and another great highlight was watching Schools and JH just play off each other for quite awhile towards the end of the song. God, do they benefit from having each other!

Mercy was segued into Jack and I almost jumped through the roof. I've only got a couple songs that I really like to hear at EVERY show that I'm at and Jack is one of them. I was so happy to hear Jack but couldn't wait to hear what the first set closer was. They were obviously going to blow the doors off the place like they did the previous night with Heroes...WRONG! Walk on the Flood might have potential but I just haven't gotten into it. Honestly though, it was the first song of the night from the new album and that was the end of the set.

I didn't think that there was much consistency or flow to the first set although the Pigeons, Mercy and Jack were huge highlights.

Set II:

Love Tractor to open. This isn't my favorite song but it's another crowd favorite and it set the tone for the second set. Angels on High was the second "new" song that they pulled out although it has been played at least 5-10 times over the past year. I think that this song is evolving quite nicely and I really enjoyed it here as the second song of the set. It definitely has the most potential out of all of the Free Somehow songs. This would also be the last Free Somehow song of the night!

Bust It Big! Here we go! Wow, has this song evolved. I remember hearing it the first time at MSG in 2003 and at that time it was just another annoying Jojo song. Not anymore. It's really taken on a life of its own and is one of my favorites and definitely a crowd favorite these days. BIB was also Jojo's coming out party for the weekend. We heard from him a little on Friday night but he didn't seem very inspired. This was anything but true on Saturday night, especially during the second set.

They segued into Surprise Valley from BIB and this confirmed that the rest of this set was going to be rocking! There was no slowing down now. What confirmed this fact even more was when they didn't finish Surprise and segued directly into Protein/Sewing! This is how I like my Panic - LOUD and DIRTY! There really aren't a lot of headbanging songs in Panic's repertoire, but thank god for these. They seem to sound better and better every time that I catch them too. Some will say that they're overplayed but I can't get enough of them!

After Sewing came Drums which was quite welcome at the time because I was on the verge of a heart attack. After Drums came a very funky jam with Jojo just laying it down on the clavinet. These were my 2 favorite continuous minutes of this particular show because it was just so funked out and different! This led to the conclusion of Surprise that was also welcomed at the time. It seemed like this was an appropriate end to the show except it was only 10:00 pm and they had only played 7 (really 6) songs.

Immeadiately after Surprise, they went into Henry Parsons. This was the right way to conclude the show! Once again, the crowd went absolutely nuts and the band came clutch and hit this last song of the set out of the park! What a second set!!!

Encore:

Expiration Day! As far as a "slow - set me up for the last song" songs go, Expiration Day is it. It also seemed like they had been teasing going into Driving all night, and by the encore, I had forgotten all about it. Hearing Driving in the encore was quite surprising, but once again, it was only 10:20 at this point and they had some time to kill. Hearing them play Disco out of Driving was incredibly appropriate and seemed to really cap the night off quite nice. I was disappointed for maybe 1 second after they ended Driving and left the stage, but that was it! What a great way to end the show!!!

It took me going back over all the setlists and looking at Saturday a lot closer to determine that Saturday really was the best of the 3! You can't go wrong with a second set and encore like they gave us on Saturday!

Sunday

My expectations for Sunday's show were the highest for any of the shows throughout the weekend. A lot of this had to do with a few songs that I'd figured would be givens sometime throughout the weekend that still hadn't been played. My confidence in this show also had a lot to do with us having third row tickets in the Pit, right in front of the fat man!

Set I:

From the Cradle worked as an opener. This is definitely one of the better songs from Earth to America, if not the best and it worked well as an opener and then as a segue into Pleas. I've always been a big fan of Pleas and really am enjoying Jimmy on it.

1 x 1 is a fun Jojo song that I'd like to hear played more. After 1 x 1 came North, and now it was time to rock! I'm really enjoying Jimmy on North and this has always been one of my favorite songs to hear live, especially in the middle of a set and not as a closer. To nobody's surprise, there was a lyric flub by JB. JB has always had the problem of flubbing lyrics to the same songs. Can’t Get High was North’s predecessor as JB always used to have problems with its lyrics. Regardless of some miscues by JB, they killed this song! Herring took us out with a very powerful jam which was maybe my highlight from the first set.

Casa was up next and was well placed. This gave the crowd a break after a rocking North and allowed us to prepare for the heat that was about to come our way to close the set.

Unfortunately, the heat would have to wait. Free Somehow was the fourth song from the new album that was played this weekend. Again, I didn't have a problem hearing new songs from the new album but placement with these new songs meant everything! Hearing Free Somehow after Casa was such a letdown, especially with my high expectations for this Sunday show in Chicago. Obviously this is not one of my favorite songs from the new album and is going to take time to grow on me.

Here comes the heat now, right? RIGHT! Holden was segued into from Free Somehow and this was obviously the start to the high intensity end of the set that I was looking for. This is another song that Jimmy really excels at and I enjoy hearing every time. Holden led us into a Spacy Jam, but it was more of a structured Space than anything. The band seemed to be playing together and not against each other.

And It Stoned Me! This is one of those songs that they can play every show if they'd like, and I'd never get tired of it. Makes Sense To Me was the set closer and although this is another cliché closer, it was rocking!

I enjoyed this first set, but my expectations were honestly a lot higher, especially for a Sunday show.

Set II:

With my expectations as high as they always are and me being on Cloud 9 from being in the 3rd row, they opened with A of D. This is by far my favorite way for Panic to open any set of music. It also almost always sets the stage for something great!

Little Lilly was not what I was expecting or hoping for after a rocking A of D. I don't dislike the song. I just think that it would have been better placed in the first set of their show in Cincinnati this past Wednesday.

Little Lilly segued into Space Wrangler, which is always a crowd favorite. This was also the first time that I really turned around the entire show to check out the crowd behind me. Wow, talk about the energy being exuded by the fans! All weekend the crowd in Chicago was on fire!

Space Wrangler led into a very familiar bass line that almost made me jump through the roof! I have been chasing No Sugar/New Mother Nature since I started seeing Panic and I couldn't believe that I was finally able to experience it! FINALLY!

They segued No Sugar into Three Candles, which would be the fifth new song from the new album that we would hear this weekend and also the last. I like Three Candles and think that it has potential although just like the rest of the new songs, I didn't like the placement of it. After Three Candles there was a very short Drums with everyone on stage. It didn't take long for Sunny to start playing the very familiar sounds/notes to another crowd favorite and one of my personal favorites, Guilded Splinters! This song is everything that I like about Widespread Panic because it really showcases everybody's abilities!

After an incredible Guilded that Schools and Herring shined on, Dave Schools delivered us a pretty simple bass solo and then almost made me drop to my knees when he played the familiar chords to Barstools and Dreamers. Barstools has always been my favorite and it's not that often that you don't hear it preceded by Machine these days. I love it when it just comes out of nowhere and knocks you on your ass.

I was probably the only person in the venue to hear the small School’s Chilly tease in the middle of Barstools. I was the only one to hear it because it wasn't really there. Chilly Water was my only real given for this show although I didn't doubt that we would hear Barstools too. It only seemed fitting when they almost sandwiched Barstools with Chilly. Maybe it was a sign of things to come and we would get a huge Chilly to close the set. WRONG!

They finished Barstools and even paused for a second before starting into Radio Child which didn't seem like a very appropriate closer for such a great weekend. I wasn't surprised when they finished Radio Child and that was it for the set. Radio Child is another one of those cliché closers that always closes sets.

All in all it was a great show and I really enjoyed the second set. Being able to hear No Sugar for the first time and Guilded and Barstools back to back was it for me. As content as I was, I knew that we were in for something great with the encore, especially after Saturday night.

Encore:

Postcard seemed rather strange as a first song encore choice because during Panic's last trip to Chicago this past July, it was played as the first song encore on Sunday also. I will never complain about a Postcard though and this one was as rocking as any that I'd ever heard before. The next obvious choice was not so obvious, Stop Breakin' Down Blues. This is another favorite of mine, especially because you can almost hear JB channeling Robert Johnson. It just didn't seem like the most logical choice for the last song of the weekend. Regardless, what a great time!

I always have the best time in Chicago seeing Widespread Panic, and this was trip was no different!