Sunny Ortiz Clarifies Widespread Panic Touring Plans

A few weeks back Widespread Panic keyboardist JoJo Hermann revealed the band intends to stop touring extensively after 2016 in an interview. Guitarist John Bell weighed in with his take last week and now percussionist Sunny Ortiz has discussed Panic’s future with C-Ville.com.

When asked about Widespread Panic’s “momentous” decision to stop touring, Sunny clarifies what is ahead for the Georgia rockers and doesn’t think too much will change. “Well, I think you almost have to read in between the lines, you know. We really didn’t say, or at least we really didn’t come to a decision as far as [to] stop touring. I think what the verbiage should have said was that we’re going to do a smaller amount of shows than we are doing this year,” Ortiz said. The percussionist added, “This year, 2016, I think we wanted to play a lot more venues because it is our 30-year anniversary, [then] taking less shows next year. So for us to say that we’re going to not tour. …I think we need to expand on that and say, ‘Yeah, we’ve got to tour. We have to sustain ourselves.’ It’s what we’ve been doing for the past 30 years is touring.”

All the recent interviews make it clear Widespread Panic isn’t going anywhere, they are just taking more time at home to enjoy the fruits of their labor. “We’ve been at it for so long that we know our bodies—and we listen to our bodies, and we listen to our minds, just that whole interaction. We know when it’s starting to come to a point where we need to recharge our batteries…lead a normal life, go to our kids’ recitals, birthday parties, anniversaries, Thanksgiving dinners, so on and so forth,” Ortiz said.

Head to C-Ville.com for more of Sunny’s chat.