Bluest Tape

It is truly hard to believe, but on August 10, 2017, it will have been fifteen years since Michael Houser succumbed to cancer. Obviously, Widespread Panic has carried on, and Houser’s memory and music will live on indefinitely, but it is good to pause, honor his legacy, and play some of our favorite cuts from the band’s classic era. This week, Harvey makes his picks, featuring cuts from three show...

This week, with wish a happy 75th birthday to Jerry Garcia, a musician whose influence is certainly heard in Widespread Panic’s music in the past, the present, and likely in the future, too. Like many other jambands, Panic started as a Dead cover band, but unlike others, they quickly cast aside Dead covers for original material. The Dead ethos, though, certainly remained. Our selections this week...

The One Where We Talk About Carrot Top For Way Too Long We close out the month of July with the four show run that closed out the summer 1997 tour. Visiting three outdoor venues in three states, plus a special theater gig in Tampa, finds the boys in fine form after a relatively short, but still grueling, summer tour. The best part of this run is the quality of the tapes, as three of the four shows...

Happy Birthday to a Guy That Really Loves His Birthday Happy Birthday, Jojo! It’s been 25 years since John ‘Jojo’ Hermann joined Widespread Panic - can you believe it? His New Orleans-influenced keyboard stylings have become essential to the Panic sound of the last couple decades, just behind Houser’s guitar and JB’s growl. Panic has typically had a show on July 18, and the band usually has gone o...

July 1999 This week, we find ourselves in the midst of a tour through America’s Heartland in the blazing hot summer of 1999. When the Bluest Tape got started a few months ago, a 1999-centric show was not on our radar, but looking back, summer 1999 was pretty strong, starting out at Red Rocks, followed by a couple great ones in Montana and Wyoming, and then onto the Midwest. This episode starts off...

Panic does July 4th Well, Happy Birthday USA! You’ve been around for 241 years now and have had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but you just keep on keeping on. What better way to celebrate this year’s birthday than with Widespread Panic, whose history of shows on July 4th is substantial and, as you will hear this episode, pretty darn good. We start way back in 1990 with the “4th of J...

Panic at Red Rocks, Part 2 In case you missed it last week, we decided that if FDR had decided “swamp draining” was a better idea than, say, rebuilding and improving an entire country, we probably wouldn’t have Red Rocks Amphitheatre. It’s an absolutely stunning place, and its clear that the boys turn it up to 11 each year they head up the mountain to Morrison. This week, we get to hear all about...

Panic at Red Rocks, Part 1 So, here in this age of “swamp draining” and governmental “deconstruction,” we give you a case study on why sometimes our government isn’t all bad. The absolutely breathtaking Red Rocks was, in fact, a government project, constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration during the New Deal. While Mother Nature did most of the heavy lifting...

Panic Goes to the Zoo This week, we take a listen to selections from Widespread Panic’s several visits to zoos throughout the United States. The band has always enjoyed playing shows surrounded by natural beauty, but zoos provide an extra added bonus of exotic wildlife. If nothing else, it gave JB and Garrie something random to talk about from the stage. We start off with back-to-back visits to th...

Fall 1992 Harvey flies solo this week as Jeff remained without power in Memphis because of storm damage. We look back at a three night run in Fall 1992. The first two shows we cover haven't really circulated digitally. It's interesting to hear the band at an interesting stage in their development. Fresh off of the first HORDE tour and a lengthy tour out west, we pick things up as they come back so...

Playing with Intention, Vol. 2 We continue with part 2 of the Playing with Intention theme. Col. Bruce Hampton's Zambi message of living and playing music with “intention,” stemming from his experience with the band at a show in 1988 with about 25 people in attendance. Basically, the band played for 25 like they were playing for 25,000, and any band that can pull that off - with “intention” - is a...

When Col. Bruce Hampton spoke of Widespread Panic with admiration, he often used the word “intention,” stemming from his experience with the band at a show in 1988 with about 25 people in attendance. Basically, the band played for 25 like they were playing for 25,000, and any band that can pull that off - with “intention” - is a band worthy of attention and admiration. Even as Panic grew in promin...

Panic closed out spring 1997 with a bang, putting together 8 shows in 10 days, with 3 of the final 4 shows being absolute classics. Episode 7 showcases the best of the best from perhaps the best run of shows Panic has ever done, outside of Halloween, NYE, or Red Rocks. We start off with an all-timer from the Palace in Louisvlle, a magical 2nd set “Airplane.” Heading up Interstate 65 into Chicago,...

In the early morning hours of May 2, 2017, this world lost - but another world gained - the great Col. Bruce Hampton (ret.) after collapsing during the tribute concert for his 70th birthday at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. From the Hampton Grease Band to the Aquarium Rescue Unit and all points beyond, Hampton’s influence on the jamband scene and Southern music in general is without parallel. Widespr...

Panic fans have long cherished tapes from Spring 1997 with numerous SBDs making their way into circulation, perhaps because of the generosity of Dave Schools. Early 1997 was filled with great shows and interesting setlists, highlighted this week by a first set “Feelin’ Alright’ from May 1, an unexpectedly rare “Stop-Go” sandwich from May 2, an all-time favorite “Sandbox > Just Kissed My Baby” from...

Last week, we gave you the rockin’ part of Spring 2002. This week, we slow it down and look at some of the touching moments from this short and sweet tour through the Southeast. The band, especially Michael Houser, were propelled into greatness by crowds knowing that these shows might be the last time they see the boys from Athens, GA together on stage. Today’s episode highlights the encore from 4...

This week, we take trip back 15 years to 2002 for the final spring tour of Michael Houser’s tenure in Widespread Panic. By the time April 2002 rolled around, rumors were fairly rampant about his health, and of course, were confirmed when he left the band in July, and sadly passed away in August. Spring tour was a short little seven show jaunt through the band’s original stomping grounds, the good...

Instrumental selections have been a staple of Panic setlists since its earliest days in Athens. They can be show and set openers, mid-set tempo changers, welcome surprises, and, as the kids like to say, pure fire, too. Today’s selections just scratch the surface of Panic’s cache of wordless wonders. We start with a “Maggot Brain” opener from 1994, a rare “Machine” separated from its usual partner-...

We continue making our way through Spring 1996, finding the band in rare form in Columbia, SC, Statesboro, GA, and Norfolk, VA. Listen for an especially intense version of “Cream Puff War,” a rare mid-set “Dream Song,” the last performance of the Scott Joplin ragtime classic, “Solace,” and an intense “Porch Song” set closer. If episode one didn’t convince you that Spring 1996 is a keeper, then the...

For the inaugural episode of The Bluest Tape, we charge headlong into the stellar Spring Tour of 1996. Coming on the heels of Sit n Ski, the band returned to the Midwest, Southeast, and East Coast for a 26-show tour that featured some not just some of Panic’s best playing to date, but some of the best in its 30-plus year history. Join us as stop for fantastic first set selections from Columbia, MO...

I'd rather be Driving > Disco > Driving. Episode 1 coming on 3/28/17 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.