Widespread Panic Revives Rare Curtis Mayfield Cover At Panic En La Playa 2026

On Wednesday, Widespread Panic presented their second of four Panic En La Playa headlining concerts at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico. The first set featured the return of “Pusherman,” a Curtis Mayfield cover the band hadn’t performed since 2021.

Panic has been breaking in Nick Johnson, who will hold the lead guitar spot down for the foreseeable future while Jimmy Herring takes time off the road to deal with throat cancer. Johnson earned rave reviews for his playing on the first night of the destination event and sounded even more comfortable on night two.

Keyboardist JoJo Hermann fronted the sextet on Wednesday’s “Greta” opener before handing the lead vocal baton to bassist Dave Schools for “Blight.” John Bell then stepped into the spotlight to sing “Wondering” and “Little By Little.”

“Airplane” took flight next and the Ain’t Life Grand track’s jam gave way to “Pusherman.” Written by Curtis Mayfield for his 1972 soundtrack to the film Super Fly, the cover has been part of Widespread Panic’s live repertoire since Halloween 1990. “Pusherman” performances have been rare over the past 25 years, with the last one before Wednesday played back on October 30, 2021 — a 152-show gap. Bell expertly guided the band through the song, which featured Schools and Johnson connecting for teases of Miles Davis’ “It’s About That Time” during the jam.

Watch Widespread Panic work “Airplane” into “Pusherman” at Panic En La Playa below:

Versions of fairly new ballad “We Walk Each Other Home” and oldie “Conrad” brought last night’s first set to an end. Widespread Panic used “Travelin’ Light” to launch their second set. After the subsequent “Barstools and Dreamers,” “Bear’s Gone Fishin'” kicked off a seamless sequence that also featured a “Surprise Valley” complete with “Drums” and “Me And The Devil Blues” within. The Georgia rockers took it down a notch with “Blue Indian” ahead of the rousing takes on “Henry Parsons Died” and “Blackout Blues” that wrapped the closing stanza.

Widespread Panic began the encore with an emotion-laced cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.” Fan favorite “Climb To Safety” then closed out the concert. Panic En La Playa 2026 continues today with another WSP performance as well as sets from the Playa Allstars on the Beach Stage and Circles Around The Sun on the Stairway To Heaven Stage.

Watch more of Bradford Walker’s fan-shot videos featuring night two highlights below:

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Setlist (via @WidespreadPanic)

Set One: Greta > Blight > Wondering, Little By Little, Airplane > Pusherman*, We Walk Each Other Home, Conrad

Set Two: Travelin’ Light, Barstools and Dreamers, Bear’s Gone Fishin’ > Surprise Valley > Drums > Me And The Devil Blues > Surprise Valley, Blue Indian, Henry Parsons Died, Blackout Blues

Encore: For What It’s Worth, Climb To Safety