Photo by Joshua Timmermans, via @WidespreadPanicHQ on Instagram

Before hitting the stage to celebrate an early Halloween at the Park Theater in Last Vegas, Widespread Panic had some fun with a video introduction inspired by the late-’60s/early-’70s variety show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. In the video, the band members all stuck their heads out of the show’s classic joke wall, and delivered punchlines. Guitarist Jimmy Herring even teased opener “Godzilla” by joking “You know if you play Godzilla backwards it’s really about a benevolent lizard who rebuilds Tokyo and moonwalks into the ocean?”

WSP then led off with the aforementioned “Godzilla” (their first since Halloween 2011) and continued with “One Arm Steve,” “Imitation Leather Shoes” and “Better Off.” Set one closed with a rocking “Time Zones”> “Diner”> “Blackout Blues” segment, and the band’s first-ever cover of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” with go-go dancers filling the stage.

Set two began with another debut cover, Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung” and continued with go-go dancers accompanying a killer “Pigeons” jam, featuring a segue in and out of Pigmeat Markham’s “Here Comes The Judge” (also a WSP debut).

“Sundown Betty” came next, as did an exploratory “Four Cornered Room” that bled into “Slippin’ Into Darkness” (feat. tour manager Steve Lopez on percussion and go-go dancers). The dancers stuck around, but Lopez left the stage for “Henry Parsons Died.”

The final jam of set two began with “Mercy” and moved into an improvised segment before settling into the band’s debut of Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” with go-go dancers grooving along, and assistant tour manager Ben Draper on cowbell.

Widespread Panic closed the second set with Dirty Side Down cut “North.”

They encored with two more dancer-accompanied debuts, Tiny Tim’s “Tiptoe Through The Tulips” and Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away,” before closing their Halloween celebration in true WSP fashion with “Ain’t Life Grand.”

Check out the band’s full setlist and set openers, including the Laugh-In intro below:

Widespread Panic
October 28, 2018
Park Theater, Las Vegas

Set I: Video Intro (Laugh-In), Godzilla$, One Arm Steve, Imitation Leather Shoes, Better Off, Time Zones > Diner > Blackout Blues, Jumpin’ Jack Flash*%

Set II: Aqualung%, Pigeons* > Here Comes The Judge%* > Pigeons*, Sundown Betty, Four Cornered Room > Slippin’ Into Darkness*^ > Henry Parsons Died*, Mercy > Jam > (Don’t Fear) The Reaper%^^* > North*

Enc: Tiptoe Through The Tulips%*, Drift Away%*, Ain’t Life Grand*

Notes:

*with Go-go dancers on stage
^ with Steve Lopez (Tour Manager) on percussion
^^with Ben Draper (Asst. Tour Manager) on cowbell
$Last time played 10/31/11
%First time played

Source: panicstream.com