The first night of the run started strong with a fitting cover of Tom Waits’ Goin’ Out West. Guitarist Jimmy Herring got a chance to make his presence felt during the Disco that quickly followed. At first, Herring’s aggressive approach was the big story with Panic, but now what’s more impressive is how well the other members of the band are improvising behind Jimmy. The rhythm section of David Schools, Todd Nance and Sonny Ortiz have stopped trying to play on top of Herring, instead acting more like a fullback clearing the path for Herring to score.
Photos from widespreadpanic.com taken by Ryan Dowd
Widespread Panic has never been a band to shy away from playing too many covers, and the first night of Oakland was chock full of ’em. Panic opened both sets with covers, and dropped another cover in the middle of each set. The Panic boys did a nice job with the Guess Who’s No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature in the first set, especially with the harmonies that are so key to that song. The rest of the opening set featured a nice mixture of well-written ballads such as I’m Not Alone and gutsy anthemic rockers like Who Do You Belong To? and Action Man.
The second set starts off strong with a cover of JJ Cale’s Travelin’ Light, and that leads into a filthy version of Barstools and Dreamers, which as usual featured an improvised rap from John Bell. Bell actually does pretty well with these segments and would totally own some of the losers on MTV’s Celebrity Rap Superstar. Panic followed Barstools and Dreamers with a funkalicious Machine that contained some of Herring’s quickest playing of the evening. Check out the 2:55 second mark for a few of the most mind blowing runs of notes you’ll ever hear. For serious.
Panic shows are rowdy affairs, and sometimes I find it hard to pick out the nuances of their music in concert. One thing that caught my ear listening to the stellar mix on this crispy official recording is how well JB wails on the wahwah pedal during Radio Child. JB plays the craziest rhythms while gently rocking his pedal, adding some nice depth behind the frenetic runs Jimmy Herring was laying down.
The best segment of the show comes after a spicy version of Casa Del Grillo, when Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Harrison joins Widespread to add some stellar clavinet work to Holden Oversoul. Harrison is a legend that was a vital part of the genre-defining sounds of both The Modern Lovers and the Talking Heads. Widespread always does a nice job of giving ample opportunities for their guests to shows off their skills, and this night was no exception.
Jimmy, Jerry and JoJo Herman are wailing away on their respective instruments towards the end of Holden, when all of the sudden the ensemble slows the groove to a snail’s pace. Harrison then takes the lead and plays the familiar chords that start the Heads’ classic Life During Wartime. Panic plays the tune at about half speed, which actually sounds pretty damn good to my ears. Harrison does a nice job of giving some rasp to the words as he trades verses with JB throughout the tune.
A short drum segment followed Harrison’s sit-in, after which the band dropped an extremely interesting jam that reminded me of some of The Dead’s gorgeous improvisations that used to follow their Drums segments. After an intense start to the set, you can tell people must have been excited to catch their breath during a beautiful rendition of Jack. I love JB’s ballads, and Jack is among my faves.
The energy picks up again during a dirty visit to Chainsaw City that ends the set on a high note. Panic returned to the stage for a fairly standard Ain’t Life Grand that gave the crowd one last chance to boogie. I really dig what Panic has been layin’ down lately. The first night of the Paramount run shows what a force they have become with the addition of Jimmy Herring killing it on a nightly basis.
- Download Widespread Panic in Oakland from 09/27/2007
- Previously on HT: Havin’ A Bad Time: Girl Talk Opens For Panic and Hot Carl Sees The Music Widespread
09/27/07 Paramount Theatre, Oakland, CA
1: Going Out West, Disco > Diner > No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature, I’m Not Alone > Who Do You Belong To?, Christmas Katie > Little Kin > Action Man
2: Traveling Light > Barstools and Dreamers > Machine > Radio Child > Casa Del Grillo > Holden Oversoul > Life During Wartime* > Jam* > Drums* > Jack > Chainsaw City
E: Ain’t Life Grand
* with Wally Ingram on percussion and Jerry Harrison on Keys
[Jam after Life During Wartime without JB]
4 Responses
Great new weekly feature guys, keep it coming!
The digital revolution has come a long way.
pffft……4th generation tape in three weeks
Ya know in my day we had wait 6-8 months for 12-14th generation shows on crappy Maxell XL II tapes.
And then if we were really lucky we could hear the show thru the crowd noise and the obnoxious guy singing the words to “Strange Design” to his girlfriend.