Widespread Panic Offer Bust Outs and Themes in St. Augustine
Photo Credit: Tim Bottchen
On Friday, March 21, Widespread Panic arrived at St. Augustine Amphitheater for three consecutive nights of music in The Sunshine State. The slate of performances represented the most recent advent of live gigs, following last month’s return to the stage during their subsequent Atlantic City run, the first appearances following Jimmy Herring’s cancer diagnosis and resulting seven-month intermission.
During the Peach State band’s three-night offering, they treated the audience to a diverse range of 68 songs, from originals to covers. Variety and their ability to evoke themes using titles and lyrics kept the audience engaged and excited throughout the performances. The inclusion of bust-outs also added an element of surprise.
Night one commenced on “Disco.” The collective instrumental prowess of the opener coalesced its follow-up, the fan favorite, “Diner.” The last time WP began a show by merging the aforementioned numbers was during their March 12, 2015, concert at Portland, Ore.’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
JoJo Herman and Dave Schools led the charge into “C Brown,” which turned on a dime and nearly became “Good People” at Herman’s command. Instead, a pause instituted separation, and the band proceeded into “Dark Bar” before arching back to “Good People.” Dirty Side Down inclusion, “Cotton Was King,” preluded set one’s final pairing: BloodKin’s “Can’t Get Hight” into “Henry Parsons Died.”
Friday’s second set found the band leaning into 2024 releases, beginning with “Little by Little.” Follow-up “Stop-Go” contained a tease of the Dead’s “Fire on the Mountain” and “Three Little Birds” rap. Tom Waits’ “Goin’ Out West” harnessed itself to “Rock” before the emergence of another 2024 drop, this time “Tackle Box Hero.”
The band dusted off the first “One Kind Flavor” since July 24, 2022, ending an 84-show performance gap. The latter included teases of “Wang Dang Doodle” and the band’s second nod to the Dead [on their returning weekend at Sphere], with an interlude of “The Other One.” Fishwater” submerged “Drums” ahead of a bust out of Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain,” another bust out, last played on April 18, 2023, in Austin, Texas.
Eventually, WP gave legs to Buffalo Springfield’s “For What’s It’s Worth,” emphasizing the youthful battle cry before looping back to “Fishwater.” Sticking with covers, the band reprised Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime” in a seemingly thought-out move that tied the song’s dystopian future to Springfield’s warning call. You do the math.
Night two instituted a sauntering or movement motif during the initial set: “Was broken down, by the side of the road/ Was crawling in the darkness like a king snake in the woods” on “Tall Boy.” The band pulled out three songs that hit the theme on the head: Neil Young’s “Walk On,” fan favorite “Walkin’ For Your Love,” and new number “We Walk Each Other Home.”
Later, during the show’s second half, the band performed the first “Don’t Want To Lose You” since their gig at Red Rocks on June 23, 2023, ending a 39-show gap. In addition to originals, the band worked through Tom Petty’s “You Wreck Me. ” During the encore, they alluded to the aforementioned theme on “AirplaneC” and eventually closed the concert after Jerry Joseph’s “Climb to Safety.”
Driving emerged as a motif during night three’s initial frame, bringing with the expected entrance point: “Driving Song.” They kept up the theme, “I’ve been driving/ Thinking about you and me” via “Wondering,” and hammered it home with the arrival of “Shut Up and Drive” and the second set take on J.J. Cale’s “Ride Me High.” The aforementioned number produced Traffic’s “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” and General Echo’s “Arleen.”
Widespread used their final St. Augustine segment to fill out the night with originals “Postcard,” “May Your Glass Be Filled” paired with “Halloween Face,” and finally, “Ain’t Life Grand,” and a two-song finale: “Vacation” into “Blackout Blues.”
After this weekend’s concerts, Widespread will return on April 24-26 to Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater.
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Widespread Panic
St. Augustine Amphitheater – St. Augustine, Fla.
March 21, 2025
Set I: Disco > Diner > C Brown, Good People > Dark Bar > Good People, Cotton Was King, Can’t Get High > Henry Parsons Died
Set II: Little By Little, Stop-Go > Goin’ Out West > Rock, Tackle Box Hero, One Kind Favor > Fishwater > Drums > Maggot Brain > For What It’s Worth > Fishwater
Enc.: Life During Wartime
Notes via panicstream.com:
– LTP ‘Disco>Diner’ opener 3/17/15 Portland
– ‘Fire On The Mountain’ tease during ‘Stop-Go’
– ‘Three Little Birds’ rap during ‘Stop-Go’
– LTP ‘One Kind Favor’ 7/24/22 New York (84 shows)
– ‘Wang Dang Doodle’ and ‘The Other One’ teases during ‘One Kiind Favor’
– LTP ‘Maggot Brain’ 4/18/23 Austin (47 shows)
Widespread Panic
St. Augustine Amphitheater – St. Augustine, Fla.
March 22, 2025
Set I: Tall Boy > Walk On, Walkin’ (For Your Love), We Walk Each Other Home, Up All Night, Honky Red, Pilgrims, Space Wrangler
Set II: Second Skin > Rebirtha > Sleeping Man, Don’t Wanna Lose You, Machine > Barstools and Dreamers, King Baby > Love Tractor, You Wreck Me
Enc.: Airplane, Climb To Safety
Notes via panicstream.com:
– ‘Turn On Your Love Light’ jam during ‘ Walk On’
– ‘Don’t Wanna Lose You’ 6/23/23 Red Rocks (39 shows)
