Watch Widespread Panic Play ‘Bear’s Gone Fishing,’ ‘Happy,’ ‘Rebirtha’ & More At Red Rocks In 2016
By Nate Todd Mar 7, 2021 • 9:45 am PST
Widespread Panic recently released a pair of videos from their 2016 Red Rocks run. WSP shared a clip of “Happy,” “Airplane” and “Rebirtha” from their June 24 appearance as well as “Bear’s Gone Fishing” from June 26.
The Red Rocks footage is the latest in Panic’s rollout of video from memorable shows which also included a slew of videos from their 25th anniversary run in 2011 as well as clips from Alabama shortly after the quarter century celebration and more. WSP has also been sharing video from their 2016 Red Rocks run including their cover of The Band’s “Ophelia” among others.
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The “Happy” > “Airplane” > “Rebirtha” Red Rocks segment came on Friday (the opening night of the run) just after the opening song, “Ain’t Life Grand.” “Happy” is an instrumental Panic debuted on September 24, 1995, as per Everyday Companion, while they unveiled “Airplane” on March, 2, 1994. “Airplane” — penned and sung by co-founding guitarist Michael Houser — remained in heavy rotation up until Houser’s death in 2002 and the band did not play it again until October 30, 2006. Panic closed out the segment with another classic, “Rebirtha,” which they debuted in early 1993.
The “Bear’s Gone Fishing” — debuted as an instrumental in July 1997 with lyrics added two years later — came as the third song in the first set of Panic’s Sunday show on June 26. The song is one of two tunes inspired by friend of the band Thomas “Bear” Guenther, who sadly passed away in 2019 with WSP paying tribute to their friend that year in his beloved Telluride. Since Guenther was a Colorado resident, “Bear’s Gone Fishing” and the song he helped co-write, “Postcard,” were always safe bets for any Red Rocks run. The band also delivered “Postcard” on June 26 at Red Rocks during the encore.
Watch Widespread Panic perform “Happy” > “Airplane” > “Rebirtha” as well as “Bear’s Gone Fishing” below via the JamBase Live Video Archive:
