Throwback | Widespread Panic & Steve Winwood At Bonnaroo

On Saturday night Widespread Panic will be joined by special guest Steve Winwood for a performance at Lockn’ Festival in Arrington, VA. However, this won’t be the first time the legendary multi-instrumentalist has sit in with the Georgia rockers. Let’s look back at one of the key performances from the very first Bonnaroo in 2002.

When the lineup for the first Bonnaroo was announced, there was no doubt that organizers were aiming to attract jam fans. Bonnaroo 2002 brought together nearly every major act in the jam scene including Trey Anastasio (Phish was on hiatus at that point), Phil Lesh & Friends with Bob Weir, moe., The String Cheese Incident, Galactic, Gov’t Mule and Widespread Panic. The event drew approximately 70,000 attendees to Manchester with little promotion after selling out in only 11 days. Even Rolling Stone had to take notice and dubbed the first Bonnaroo “the most ambitious event of the summer.”

Widespread Panic was given the honors of headlining two nights of Bonnaroo ’02 with two full sets each night. The band made the most of the opportunity by welcoming a bevy of guests for memorable sit-ins. Sadly, Bonnaroo ’02 would be among guitarist Michael Houser’s last performances with the band before he succumbed to cancer. Our favorite moment of Widespread Panic’s sets on The Farm at the inaugural ‘Roo was when the band was joined by musical legend Steve Winwood and saxophonist Randall Bramblett for takes on Traffic’s “Glad” and “Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys.”

Screenshot video of the entire Widespread Panic set from June 22, 2002 featuring the Winwood/Bramblett sit-ins (“Glad” starts at 28-minute mark and “Low Spark” kicks in at 37:45) can be viewed here:

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the “Tall Boy” > “Testify” > “Tall Boy” from earlier in the day on June 22, 2002 featuring Dottie Peoples and the People’s Choice Choir. Thankfully, there’s pro-shot footage available of that collaboration: