Widespread Panic Delivers Debut & Bust Outs At Night 2 Of 3 In Washington, D.C.

Widespread Panic hit the midpoint of their three-night run at The Theater At MGM National Harbor, the 3,000 seat venue in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Oxon Hill, Maryland. Friday night’s show saw the Southern-jam titans work in a handful of bust outs along with the debut of a tune from a blues legend.

“Chainsaw City” got the show underway as John Bell & Co. looked to a cover of J. J. Cale’s “Travelin’ Light” next. “Good People” from the band’s 2006 release Earth to America followed, as they offered up their first bust out of the night next by dusting off “Gradle.” The track from Bombs & Butterflies was seeing action for the first time since December 29, 2016, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Keyboardist JoJo Hermann got a chance to shine on “Big Wooly Mammoth” as it segued into setlist staple “Greta” and just the fourth “Sleepy Monkey” since 2013. Panic then served up their second surprise of the night as they unearthed “St. Louis.” The Dirty Side Down track had not been played since October of 2016, a span of 48 shows. The first frame came to a close with a lengthy jam-filled run of “Driving Song” > “Disco” > “Driving Song.”

Widespread Panic kicked off their fourth set of the run by inviting out crew member Steve Lopez to join them on percussion for a cover of War’s “Slippin’ Into Darkness” from the funk band’s 1971 release All Day Music. A pairing of “Machine” > “Barstools & Dreamers” followed with “This Part Of Town” finding its way back into their setlist for the first time since the same Ryman show from December of 2016. “Heroes” came ahead of the debut of Robert Johnson’s “Love In Vain,” a tune that is probably best known from The Rolling Stones 1969 release Let It Bleed. A cover of Tom Waits’ “Goin’ Out West” segued into the “Drums” portion of the night as “Cease Fire” emerged when the full band returned to the stage.

Panic kept the blues-theme going with their second Robert Johnson song of the evening offering up “Me And The Devil Blues” for the first time since August of last year, with fan-favorite “Pigeons” bringing things to a close. The band closed out the night with a two-song encore as “Henry Parsons Died” and “Postcard” brought the night to an end.

Watch fan-shot video captured by Tom Libera and check out the full setlist below:

[Chainsaw City, Travelin’ Light]

Setlist (via PanicStream)

Set I: Chainsaw City, Travelin’ Light, Good People, Gradle, Big Wooly Mammoth > Greta > Sleepy Monkey, St Louis^, Driving Song > Disco > Driving Song (80 mins)

Set II: Slippin’ Into Darkness*, Machine > Barstools & Dreamers, This Part of Town, Heroes, Love In Vain^^, Goin’ Out West > Drums > Cease Fire, Me and the Devil Blues, Pigeons (100 mins)

Encore: Henry Parsons Died, Postcard (11 mins)

^ LTP 10/21/16 Milwaukee (48 shows), ^^ FTP (Robert Johnson), * w/ Steve Lopez on percussion