Widespread Panic hit the stage last night at the Botanical Gardens in the sweltering Idaho heat to play a show that was short in length but filled with grooves and musical peaks galore. Just after 7:00, the boys came out firing with a rockin’ cover of the Talking Heads’ ‘Papa Legba’, a crowd favorite for years. The rest of the set didn’t let up much either, with a great ‘Blackout Blues’, a little psychedelic rock with ‘Bear’s Gone Fishin’, and a raucous ‘Conrad The Caterpiller’ to cap it off.

During set break, the sun began to slowly go down, and the occasional breeze kept the crowd happy and not-too-overheated. After a nice start to the set, including a powerful ‘North’, Panic brought out Danny Hutchens and Eric Carter from opening band (and fellow Georgians) Bloodkin for a 2-song collaboration. The first tune was the WSP debut of Tom Waits’ ‘Clap Hands’, with JB’s scruffy vocals filling Waits’ shoes perfectly. Next up was ‘Quarter Tank of Gasoline’, which has been quietly sneaking into the rotation more and more this year.

After the guests left the stage, it was back to business with a non=stop end to the show consisting of ‘B of D’ > ‘Papa’s Home’ > Drums > ‘Papa’s Home’ > ‘Proving Ground’ > ‘Chilly Water’. Whew! Sandwiched in between a melodic, groove-oriented ‘Papa’s Home’, ‘Drums’ was short and sweet, and paved the way for the ending ‘Proving Ground’ > ‘Chilly Water’ sequence that ended the night on a high note. On a lower note, however, the show was stopped precisely at 10:00, due to the venue’s strict curfew, causing us to (apparently) miss out on a scheduled ‘Ballad of John & Yoko’ encore, and JB didn’t even say ‘Goodnight’! All in all, a great Panic show as usual, and even though it was a little warm out in the open field near Boise, the crowd all left wearing a big summertime smile. Enjoy the photos below!