Widespread Panic Presents ‘Fear & Loathing’ Halloween In Las Vegas
By Scott Bernstein Oct 30, 2017 • 7:07 am PDT
Georgia rockers Widespread Panic continued a trend of throwing down to celebrate Halloween weekend with the final show of a three-night run at the Park Theater in Las Vegas. Sunday’s finale featured all the hallmarks of a great Widespread Panic Halloween show: bust outs, cover debuts, a fun theme and a costumed band.
The stage was set up like vintage Las Vegas and Widespread Panic took the stage dressed as versions of gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson, for the most part. John Bell dressed up as “The Dude” from The Big Lebowski, though he did have “Wrong Movie” printed on the back. Jimmy Herring was HST with googles, JoJo Hermann was vintage Hunter including dangling cigarette, Duane Trucks emerged as Dr. Gonzo, Dave Schools was a version of Hunter featuring his trademark hat, while Sunny Ortiz dressed as Chef from South Park.
Yet just before the band came on stage, a video featuring the portion of 1998’s Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas about Hunter S. Thompson’s drug collection was displayed on the screens around the stage. Animated versions of Panic members were made to lip sync the words spoken in the film by Johnny Depp as Hunter S. Thompson. Bell opened the concert with the WSP debut of “Home On The Range,” a song that played a big role in the 1980 HST semi-autobiographical film Where The Buffalo Roam. Then, Herring led the group through their debut version of Link Wray’s surf-rock gem “Rumble.” Panic then reeled off “Henry Parsons Died” and “Vampire Blues.”
One of the biggest surprises of the night came next as WSP dusted off the title track from Don’t Tell The Band for the first time since Mikey Houser’s days with the group. Panic had last performed “Don’t Tell The Band” on June 25, 2002 – a span of 1,046 shows. Widespread continued on by covering Bill Withers’ “Use Me” and ending the set with “Shut Up & Drive” and “Conrad.”
Sunday’s second set started with a wild “Chilly Water” followed by covers of “Tail Dragger” and “Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys.” From there, the group lit into “Proving Ground” and a Herring-led take on “Home On The Range.” Another cover debut lay ahead in the form of Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride,” which the band jammed out nicely with Carrot Top on percussion ahead of “Drums.” The set concluded with “Cease Fire” and covers of Talking Heads’ “City Of Dreams” and Neil Young’s “Mr. Soul.”
Widespread Panic wasn’t done yet after two huge sets. The band returned to stage for their first version of “House Of The Rising Sun” since June 24, 2014 – a span of 212 shows. “House Of The Rising Sun” led into the evening’s third “Home On The Range,” with this time JoJo providing the melody for the instrumental version. The evening came to a close with one final cover debut, Free’s “All Right Now” sung by John Bell. Next up for WSP is a three-night New Year’s run in Atlanta.
Here’s pro-shot video from the beginning of each set:
Check out fan-shot video from Sunday’s show:
Setlist (via PanicStream)
Set One: Intro to Fear and Loathing (video), Home on the Range^, Rumble^ > Henry Parsons Died, Vampire Blues, Don’t Tell The Band*, Use Me, Up All Night, Shut Up And Drive, Conrad (59 mins)
Set Two: Chilly Water, Tail Dragger, Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys, Proving Ground > Home on the Range (no vocals-Jimmy lead), Magic Carpet Ride^ > Jam > Drums > Cease Fire > City of Dreams, Mr Soul (90 mins)
Encore: House of the Rising Sun** > Home on the Range (no vocals-JoJo lead), All Right Now^ (12 mins)
Notes
- ^ First Time Played
- ‘Home on the Range’ (From the movie ‘Where the Buffalo Roam’ loosely based on Hunter S. Thompson played by Bill Murray)
- ‘Rumble’ (Link Wray – Blow soundtrack)
- ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ (Steppenwolf) w/ Carrot Top on percussion
- ‘All Right Now’ (Free) w/ JB vocals only
- * LTP 6/25/02 Dallas (1,046 shows – Mikey would play 4 more shows)
- ** LTP 6/24/14 Lincoln (212 shows)
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