Widespread Panic
Murfreesboro, TN – 4/28/01
Murphy Center - MTSU
*** It’s hard to tell where exactly Widespread Panic has been or where they are going, I guess you could check archived set lists and tour schedules for that, all that I know is that on April 28, 2008 in Mufreesboro, TN (exactly 7 years to the DAY they played this show review listed below at exact the same location) they were to be found again, like a broken mirror, only this is where I guess the bad luck had to go home empty handed, because Panic was back in town. ***
As John Bell sang in the song “Gradle”, in which they opened the encore following the second set, “Time plays a roller coaster not afraid to ride itself, never takes adventure lightly and always stops enough to let us on for a ride.” All aboard, or at least for those lucky enough to have a ticket.
As the sun began to set a massive crowd of teeny bobbers to fourty-somethings shifted from the parking lots to the Murphy Center, usual home to the Middle Tennessee State University basketball team, The Blue Raiders. On this night however, the Blue Raiders were no where to be found as Widespread Panic had come to fire more enthusiasm than any mere sporting event.
Fresh off a Huntsville, AL show that some described as flawless, one might have expected a flat or even average performance on this hot southern late spring night. The Huntsville show followed a Starkville, MS show that seemed to portray the Athens rockers as nothing more than a drug smuggling cult following. Not a chance as Widespread Panic turned in and out songs with full fledged enthusiasm showing exactly why this crowd, like the ones before and after it, will remain as long as they continue to tour. No half-assing it here, as that kind of behavior quickly gets you left in the parking lots looking for an extra. As Sara Chekowsky and Emily Shelton told me upon hearing one of their favorites, "We came…we danced…we conquered”.
The band started with the concert with the moving instrumental “A of D” before breaking into “Papa Legba” a song written by David Byrne. They continued the solid first set blasting out such songs as “Hatfield” and “Chilly Water”, as some small eyed regular took my $3 water and threw the bottle and all its contents into the crowd, tough luck for a venue that doesn’t sell beer. That however is to be expected at any WSP show that they play Chilly Water, water here, water there, water, water everywhere, you get the point. The band finished the first set strong with two of their newer tunes “Old Joe,” a sentimental acoustic melody and “Imitation” a fiery song that incorporates Hollywood mystique and will thrive on the band’s new album.
The second set started with “Casa”, which mixes Spanish and English axioms. They then broke into “Low Rider” bringing hard-jamming improvisational flare to the classic 70’s War rock song. The crowd thumped away as the power notes churned. After that they broke into a slow and soulful, emotional Talking Heads song called “Heaven”, which they have only played 4 times in the last 100 shows. Enough of the pitter-patter though, as they quickly turned back up the heat with a crowd favorite “One-Armed Steve,” a ballad that tells the story of John Herman (keyboardist) and his tribulations joining the band. This song made its appearance at the Athens CD Release party that flooded the streets of Athens we all know so well.
A special rendition of the commonplace “Drums” included Count Mbutu on percussion and really got the crowd enthused. After that Guarav Maholtra joined the Count on percussion, Jeff Coffin on saxophone and Roy Wooten a.k.a. Futureman of Bela Fleck on drums. This quartet led a jam that blew the roof off the small Division I basketball arena.
As the jam wound down I saw smile appear on David Schools’ face as he blasted out the intro to “Bowlegged Woman”. This song kicks much arse (pardon my Irish). As the song began to play a bearded T-shirt salesman selling shirts resembling restroom-oriented stick figured versions of a bowlegged woman and a knock kneed man began jumping up in and down along with the rest of the audience. A few of my friends had already bought the innovative t-shirts and were celebrating in their own special way. Good job boys! The band closed out the second set with “Coconut” and “Blackout Blues”, a bluegrass song whose lyrics include, “Falling in and out of bars on my own pick my head up off the ground”. Kind of makes me teary-eyed for the old classic city.
The band came out for a brief, but solid encore playing the aforementioned “Gradle” and “Makes Sense to Me”, which got the crowd fired up in it’s own special way. Panic is still alive and as far as I could tell ready to keep on keeping on. Enough said. Enough said indeed, at least until the next stop.
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