Bluest Tape

This week, with wish a happy 75th birthday to Jerry Garcia, a musician whose influence is certainly heard in Widespread Panic’s music in the past, the present, and likely in the future, too. Like many other jambands, Panic started as a Dead cover band, but unlike others, they quickly cast aside Dead covers for original material. The Dead ethos, though, certainly remained. Our selections this week include tracks frequently covered by Panic, the Grateful Dead, and the Garcia Band, plus some late Houser era jams and teases of Dead classics. Enjoy! Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 02 November 1998 - Macon, GA - Macon Coliseum Let It Rock (w/ David Blackmon on fiddle) Source: FOB Schoeps MK4 > CMC6 > Oade 148 > SBM-1 by Bill Mixon 20 July 1997 - Montgomery, AL - Montgomery Civic Center Nobody’s Fault But Mine (w/ Warren Haynes on guitar, Allen Woody on mandolin, and Matt Abts on percussion) Source: Matrix (60% SBD, 40% AUD (AKG 483 (XY) > Oade M248 > SBM-1) by Harvey Couch 31 October

The One Where We Talk About Carrot Top For Way Too Long We close out the month of July with the four show run that closed out the summer 1997 tour. Visiting three outdoor venues in three states, plus a special theater gig in Tampa, finds the boys in fine form after a relatively short, but still grueling, summer tour. The best part of this run is the quality of the tapes, as three of the four shows were DSBDs leaked by the band during the prep for the upcoming Light Fuse, Get Away live album. Clearly, Jeff and Harvey did not have too many show notes this time around, because they do spend altogether way too long talking about Carrot Top, who intros the band - and sits in on percussion - for the first time in Tampa, but do not let that dissuade from listening this week. Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 22 July 1997 - Pompano Beach, FL - Pompano Beach Amphitheater L.A. > Just Kissed My Baby > Space Wrangler Source: DSBD (Wilker remaster) 23 July 1997 - Tampa, FL - Tampa Performing

Happy Birthday to a Guy That Really Loves His Birthday Happy Birthday, Jojo! It’s been 25 years since John ‘Jojo’ Hermann joined Widespread Panic - can you believe it? His New Orleans-influenced keyboard stylings have become essential to the Panic sound of the last couple decades, just behind Houser’s guitar and JB’s growl. Panic has typically had a show on July 18, and the band usually has gone out of its way to celebrate Jojo’s day of birth, from giving him the chance stretch out on the synth to a gorilla presenting him with a birthday cake on stage. This episode starts out in 1995, with an in-store performance at Bohemian Music, a record store-slash-piercing parlor in Billings, Montana, and winds up in Memphis, Tennessee during a stellar and steamy two-night stand in 1997. In between, stop in Raleigh and Indianapolis for Panic classics. So, Happy Birthday, Jojo, here’s to your health - SKOL! Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 18 July 1995 - Billings, MT - Bohemian Music Get Up E

July 1999 This week, we find ourselves in the midst of a tour through America’s Heartland in the blazing hot summer of 1999. When the Bluest Tape got started a few months ago, a 1999-centric show was not on our radar, but looking back, summer 1999 was pretty strong, starting out at Red Rocks, followed by a couple great ones in Montana and Wyoming, and then onto the Midwest. This episode starts off with some of the heaviest Panic we have played to date, an abbreviated second set from the Ranch Bowl in Omaha, which segues nicely into the next night’s opener in Kansas City, featuring a soulful “Wish You Were Here.” From there, it’s off to Peoria, Illinois and into the seventh circle of Hell, aka, the Madison Theater. It was 100 outside, 90 inside and damned if there weren’t some clouds - real ones - forming in the lobby during the second set. The episode ends up in suburban Detroit on a Monday night, featuring one of Jeff and Harvey’s favorite selections to date, a stellar - and quite long - “Glory” followed

Panic does July 4th Well, Happy Birthday USA! You’ve been around for 241 years now and have had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but you just keep on keeping on. What better way to celebrate this year’s birthday than with Widespread Panic, whose history of shows on July 4th is substantial and, as you will hear this episode, pretty darn good. We start way back in 1990 with the “4th of July X-Plosion” in Columbia, South Carolina, followed up by another outdoor show two years later in Richmond, Virginia. The boys and Brown Cat got wise and started booking summer shows in the North and the West - in case you didn’t know it, summer in the South is, to say the least, fricking hot - and we follow the band up to Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the first of a two night stand in 1997, and then out west to San Francisco for a tasty segment from the epic four night run in 2000. We close it out at Harmony Park in Minnesota with a blazing hot “Four Cornered Room” with a little surprise in the middle

Panic at Red Rocks, Part 2 In case you missed it last week, we decided that if FDR had decided “swamp draining” was a better idea than, say, rebuilding and improving an entire country, we probably wouldn’t have Red Rocks Amphitheatre. It’s an absolutely stunning place, and its clear that the boys turn it up to 11 each year they head up the mountain to Morrison. This week, we get to hear all about that time Jeff went camping with hard shell Samsonite suitcase, which is just the kind of added value you get here at the Bluest Tape. This week, we bring you the best of 1999-2002, including some classic collaborations with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, a ripping Thought Sausage from 2000, and some memorable moments from 2001 and 2002. Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 26 June 1999 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre Pickin’ Up the Pieces, Tallboy > Climb to Safety (w/ Roger Lewis on baritone sax) Source: AKG 482 (Split 15') > Lunatec V2 > GP ADC-20 > DA-P1 by Jamie Syrek 27 June 199

Panic at Red Rocks, Part 1 So, here in this age of “swamp draining” and governmental “deconstruction,” we give you a case study on why sometimes our government isn’t all bad. The absolutely breathtaking Red Rocks was, in fact, a government project, constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration during the New Deal. While Mother Nature did most of the heavy lifting in creating a natural amphitheatre, it took tons of concrete, thousands of man hours, and yes, the freaking United States government, to turn it into the finest concert venue in the United States, nay, the world. Since 1991, Widespread Panic has been tearing it up in the village (dare we say, “our kind of little village?”) of Morrison, Colorado, playing classic tunes for the first time, dropping rarities, and bringing some of their favorite musicians and best friends on stage. This episode starts off in July 1993, the second of two consecutive HORDE shows that summer and jumps to May 1996 for Panic’s first headl

Panic Goes to the Zoo This week, we take a listen to selections from Widespread Panic’s several visits to zoos throughout the United States. The band has always enjoyed playing shows surrounded by natural beauty, but zoos provide an extra added bonus of exotic wildlife. If nothing else, it gave JB and Garrie something random to talk about from the stage. We start off with back-to-back visits to the Jackson Zoo in Mississippi, where Panic played in both 1994 and 1995 (a stellar show, by the way), followed by a trip the Cincinnati Zoo for an all-time favorite summer 96 concert. From there, we head Up North for two shows in the state of Minnesota. The first, 1994 show at the Minnesota Zoo, features a sublime “Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” with Kofi Burbridge on flute, while our show closer, “Knockin’ Around the Zoo” comes from a visit to the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in fall 2001. Yep, a show about zoos closing with a song about a zoo (well, sort of - it’s about a mental institution) not played in a zoo. The i

Fall 1992 Harvey flies solo this week as Jeff remained without power in Memphis because of storm damage. We look back at a three night run in Fall 1992. The first two shows we cover haven't really circulated digitally. It's interesting to hear the band at an interesting stage in their development. Fresh off of the first HORDE tour and a lengthy tour out west, we pick things up as they come back south. A Wednesday night on Beale Street in Memphis, a Thursday night on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and a Friday night at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Viriginia are our venues this week. Also of note are three different, solid openers: Junior Kimbrough, The Samples, and the Gibb Droll Band. In the meantime, we all look forward to Jeff's return for episode 12 next week. Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 30 September 1992 - Memphis, TN - Omni New Daisy Ain't No Use > Papa's Home > Makes Sense to Me Mercy > Jam > Bowlegged Woman, Space Wrangler

Playing with Intention, Vol. 2 We continue with part 2 of the Playing with Intention theme. Col. Bruce Hampton's Zambi message of living and playing music with “intention,” stemming from his experience with the band at a show in 1988 with about 25 people in attendance. Basically, the band played for 25 like they were playing for 25,000, and any band that can pull that off - with “intention” - is a band worthy of attention and admiration. We continue with the next night of the 1998 Australia tour, March 10, 1998 in Adelaide, Australia (according to Google Maps, 21 hours by car from the previous venue in Byron Bay. We look at a huge mid-set segment here, featuring "some guy" named John Yaku on didgeridoo during Drums. We also come back state side for a sparsely-attended Fall 1998 show in Buffalo - the last show the boys ever played the Nickel City (unless you count a show in 2000 that was cancelled due to lack of ticket sales!) Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 10 March 1998 -

When Col. Bruce Hampton spoke of Widespread Panic with admiration, he often used the word “intention,” stemming from his experience with the band at a show in 1988 with about 25 people in attendance. Basically, the band played for 25 like they were playing for 25,000, and any band that can pull that off - with “intention” - is a band worthy of attention and admiration. Even as Panic grew in prominence and began drawing crowds throughout the U.S., there were still occasional nights when the front gate was less than ideal. In this episode, we look at two shows where the crowds were notoriously thin, October 14, 1996 in Monroe, Louisiana and March 8, 1998 in Byron Bay, Australia - during their first trip abroad. Instead of mailing it in, the boys brought the heat to the couple hundred people (at most) in attendance each night with inspired, setlist rarities, and a bit of good humor about small gathering they were all a part of. Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 14 October 1996 - Monroe,

Panic closed out spring 1997 with a bang, putting together 8 shows in 10 days, with 3 of the final 4 shows being absolute classics. Episode 7 showcases the best of the best from perhaps the best run of shows Panic has ever done, outside of Halloween, NYE, or Red Rocks. We start off with an all-timer from the Palace in Louisvlle, a magical 2nd set “Airplane.” Heading up Interstate 65 into Chicago, the boys celebrated WXRT’s 25th birthday with a crazy “Rebirtha > Low Spark > Red Beans” opener, before good friend David Blackmon took the stage with his fiddle. The next night, the boys headed across town to the Aragon Ballroom to complete their siege of Chicago, before heading north to St. Paul, Minnesota to close out the tour. The tour closer is an underrated show, with Blackmon playing better than ever and the boys finishing strong. Hell, JB had the hat on backwards and a baseball jersey on, which used to be good signs of what was to come. Put the baby to bed, tie down the cat, and play this one LOUD. Links be

In the early morning hours of May 2, 2017, this world lost - but another world gained - the great Col. Bruce Hampton (ret.) after collapsing during the tribute concert for his 70th birthday at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. From the Hampton Grease Band to the Aquarium Rescue Unit and all points beyond, Hampton’s influence on the jamband scene and Southern music in general is without parallel. Widespread Panic, Phish, Derek Trucks, and Jimmy Herring have all fallen under the Hampton’s tutelage at one time or another over the last 30 years. In this special episode, we highlight passages from five shows where Hampton sat in with Panic, beginning in December 1990 and wrapping up at Halloween 2001 in New Orleans. We are also joined by Geoff Hanson, Producer and Director of The Earth Will Swallow You and Widespread Panic: Live at Oak Mountain, to get his thoughts on Col. Bruce. Our thoughts are with his family and friends, yet despite our sadness, we find it fitting that the good Colonel, on his own terms, went out

Panic fans have long cherished tapes from Spring 1997 with numerous SBDs making their way into circulation, perhaps because of the generosity of Dave Schools. Early 1997 was filled with great shows and interesting setlists, highlighted this week by a first set “Feelin’ Alright’ from May 1, an unexpectedly rare “Stop-Go” sandwich from May 2, an all-time favorite “Sandbox > Just Kissed My Baby” from May 3, and our set closer, a mellow “Gradle” from Jazz Fest on May 4. As an added bonus, we have included some of favorite “JB-isms” from this tour. Mr. Bell was in an especially jovial mood during this last week-plus of the tour, and provided the crowd with some real gems from the dais. Enjoy! Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 1 May 1997 - Detroit, MI - State Theatre Feelin’ Alright > Nobody’s Loss > You Got Yours Source: DSBD 2 May 1997 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Egyptian Room Stop-Go > Better Off > Stop-Go Source: Neumann TLM170 3 May 1997 - Pelham, AL - Oak Mountain Amphitheater Sandbox

Last week, we gave you the rockin’ part of Spring 2002. This week, we slow it down and look at some of the touching moments from this short and sweet tour through the Southeast. The band, especially Michael Houser, were propelled into greatness by crowds knowing that these shows might be the last time they see the boys from Athens, GA together on stage. Today’s episode highlights the encore from 4/24/02 Savannah, a downcast mid-set “Old Joe” > “This Part of Town” from 4/27/02 at Oak Mountain, and two of the finest, most emotional moments in Panic history, “Don’t Be Denied” from 4/27/02, and the encore from 4/28/02 featuring the crowd-pleaser, “Postcard.” Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 24 April 2002 - Savannah, GA - Civic Center City of Dreams > Mr. Soul Source: Schoeps MK41V > KC5 > M222 > NT222 > AD1000 > HHb PDR-1000, FOB/DFC by Charles Fox 27 April 2002 - Pelham, AL - Oak Mountain Amphitheater Old Joe > This Part of Town Help Me Somebody > Don’t Be Denied Source: {Neumann AK50+

This week, we take trip back 15 years to 2002 for the final spring tour of Michael Houser’s tenure in Widespread Panic. By the time April 2002 rolled around, rumors were fairly rampant about his health, and of course, were confirmed when he left the band in July, and sadly passed away in August. Spring tour was a short little seven show jaunt through the band’s original stomping grounds, the good ole American South. The tour began with a raucous two-night stand in Raleigh, followed by one-offs in Asheville and Savannah, and closed out with an epic three-nighter at Oak Mountain. We kick it off this week with a raunchy version of “Ride Me High” from 4/20/02, and close it out with the “A of D > Cream Puff War > Fishwater” opener from 4/26/02, plus some great tracks in between. Enjoy! Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 20 April 2002 - Raleigh, NC - Walnut Creek Amphitheater Ride Me High > Arleen > And It Stoned Me Source: AKG c34 > S42 > EAA PSP2 > Apogee AD1000 > Sony D-10 ProI, FOB/DFC by

Instrumental selections have been a staple of Panic setlists since its earliest days in Athens. They can be show and set openers, mid-set tempo changers, welcome surprises, and, as the kids like to say, pure fire, too. Today’s selections just scratch the surface of Panic’s cache of wordless wonders. We start with a “Maggot Brain” opener from 1994, a rare “Machine” separated from its usual partner-in-crime, “Barstools and Dreamers,” and a speed metal version of “B of D” from Spring 2000. Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 9 October 1994 - Wilmington, NC - Trask Auditorium, Univ. of North Carolina- Wilmington Maggot Brain > Driving Song > Let’s Get the Show on the Road > Driving Song Source: AKG 468 3 May 1995 - St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Landing Machine > Travelin' Light Source: FOB Sennheiser 421's > Denon DTR-80P by Kevin Preuss 11 April 2000 - Richmond, VA - Landmark Theater Christmas Katie > B of D > Goin’ Out West Source: AKG481(XY) > V2 > SBM-1 > M-1 (8th row/slightly off-cen

We continue making our way through Spring 1996, finding the band in rare form in Columbia, SC, Statesboro, GA, and Norfolk, VA. Listen for an especially intense version of “Cream Puff War,” a rare mid-set “Dream Song,” the last performance of the Scott Joplin ragtime classic, “Solace,” and an intense “Porch Song” set closer. If episode one didn’t convince you that Spring 1996 is a keeper, then these three selections certainly will! Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 29 March 1996 - Columbia, SC - Carolina Coliseum, University of South Carolina Cream Puff War, Hatfield > Arleen (28:00) Source: AKG 468 4 April 1996 - Statesboro, GA - Legends Music Park Driving Song > Chunk of Coal > Driving Song > Dream Song > Knocking ‘Round the Zoo (23:12) Source: AKG 468 13 April 1996 - Norfolk, VA - Fieldhouse, Old Dominion University Pilgrims > Solace, Porch Song (8:23) Source: FOB AKG461 (DIN) > BPS-1s FP-11s > DA-P20 Links: Find out more about Statesboro, GA Scott Joplin Wikipedia Dream Song

For the inaugural episode of The Bluest Tape, we charge headlong into the stellar Spring Tour of 1996. Coming on the heels of Sit n Ski, the band returned to the Midwest, Southeast, and East Coast for a 26-show tour that featured some not just some of Panic’s best playing to date, but some of the best in its 30-plus year history. Join us as stop for fantastic first set selections from Columbia, MO and Johnson City, TN, and a wild and raucous second set closer from Buckhannon, West-By-God-Virginia. Links below go to whole show streams from Panicstream. 26 March 1996 - Columbia, MO - Jesse Auditorium, University of Missouri Set 1: Walk On > Tall Boy > Tie Your Shoes > Galleon > Love Tractor (29:30) Source: AKG 451 > SV-250 28 March 1996 - Johnson City, TN - Freedom Hall Set 1: Vacation > Rebirtha > Porch Song (21:50) Source: FOB Schoeps CMC64>sonosax>d10proII by Ryan Varnum 20 April 1996 - Buckhannon, WV - Rockafeller Center, West Va. Wesleyan College Set 2: Papa’s > Floozie > Drums > Papa’s > Parsons (22:0

I'd rather be Driving > Disco > Driving. Episode 1 coming on 3/28/17  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.