Widespread Panic provided a little trip down memory lane when they played their third show of their annual fall residency at the Riverside Theater on Saturday, September 30th. This was my first Panic show in three years, and close to my 30th overall. From 1997-2001, this was my band. I could probably attempt to sing every gravely note and mimic every indulgent guitar solo from Space Wrangler, Widespread Panic, Everyday, Ain't Life Grand, Bombs and Butterflies and 'Til the Medicine Takes. At one point, during the end of my college career at UW-Madison, I took a long weekend with a good buddy and saw Panic in Madison, Minneapolis and Ames, Iowa (of all places). I convinced a girl in college (who's name I no longer remember and whom I met the night before at a party), to let me borrow her car as a sophomore to drive to Milwaukee to catch a Sunday Panic show at the Rave. For a while, going out of my way to see JB, "Schools," "Jojo," "Sunny," Nance, and Houser was the norm, not the exception.
Fast forward a decade plus and I found myself back at the Riverside Theater, taking in a night of Panic with old friends. Since the band began doing residencies at the Riverside several years ago, I have caught them four times. Some shows have been fantastic, others mediocre, but I've always had a good time filled with laughs with good friends. This show was no different, although it didn't hold the same musical teeth as some of its predecessors that I've seen. There were some good jams, some interesting people watching, and some wild lights, but, to be honest, as a fan of live music, Panic is aging, and rightfully so. This band consists of men in their fifties and sixties. While the musicians have matured, their sound and crowd tries to hold on to days and times of old. The end-output of all of this is a very good nostalgia act, but an act that does little to challenge its listener musically. There are other acts that are quite fun like Panic (Jimmy Buffett comes to mind), where the time with the friends and people watching trumps the music itself.
For that reason, I give this show two grades:
Fun Factor: A
Musical Factor: B-
Fast forward a decade plus and I found myself back at the Riverside Theater, taking in a night of Panic with old friends. Since the band began doing residencies at the Riverside several years ago, I have caught them four times. Some shows have been fantastic, others mediocre, but I've always had a good time filled with laughs with good friends. This show was no different, although it didn't hold the same musical teeth as some of its predecessors that I've seen. There were some good jams, some interesting people watching, and some wild lights, but, to be honest, as a fan of live music, Panic is aging, and rightfully so. This band consists of men in their fifties and sixties. While the musicians have matured, their sound and crowd tries to hold on to days and times of old. The end-output of all of this is a very good nostalgia act, but an act that does little to challenge its listener musically. There are other acts that are quite fun like Panic (Jimmy Buffett comes to mind), where the time with the friends and people watching trumps the music itself.
For that reason, I give this show two grades:
Fun Factor: A
Musical Factor: B-
To be honest, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel music critic, Piet Levy, does an awesome job of capturing the Panic vibe with words. Here is a link to his article on the band, recapping the first night of this year's run.
Photos courtesy of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch.
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