Widespread Panic, photo by Wesley Hodges

Widespread Panic returned to the stage this weekend with another appearance at Memphis, Tenn.’s Mempho Music Festival on Oct. 3 and 4. While festival sets are rarely the best venue for any act, Mempho stands apart from the standard for the legendary Southern jam outfit, whose members have frequented the event since its 2017 debut and given many memorable performances along the way. Full-show headline bookings on Friday and Saturday night were Panic’s first since 2022, and the band surpassed the high bar they’d set yet again.

Widespread Panic stepped into the spotlight at Memphis’ Radians Amphitheater on Friday night as the leading artists on a bill that featured earlier sets from close contemporaries Leftover Salmon, Galactic, Bloodkin and the Kevn Kinney Band, as well as a penultimate set from Father John Misty. After John Bell made an early appearance as a surprise guest for Leftover Salmon’s cover of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s blues essential “Nobody’s Fault But Mine,” the band began their first set with the Space Wrangler-era essential “Disco.” After racing through the other old favorites “Pleas” and “Love Tractor,” the group turned their attention to their 2010s period with “Shut Up and Drive,” then set into a slowly stirring mood for “I’m Not Alone” and 2024’s Snake Oil King standout “Little By Little.” “Thought Sausage” and “Up All Night” brought Panic to a heavy-hitting set closer of the Junior Kimbrough-penned and dedicated “Junior.”

A brief break gave the band a chance to recoup before the second set, which commenced with setlist staples “One Arm Steve,” “Surprise Valley” and “Blackout Blues.” Continuing their long history of live collaboration at Mempho, most notably including the unforgettable Billy Strings sit-in of 2021, Widespread Panic tapped their old friend Kevn Kinney to lead a cover of his own “Straight to Hell.” Panic’s take on the hit from their fellow alumnus of the Atlanta rock underground was their third cover of the song to date, following a previous staging in Nov. 2021 and a debut alongside their guest in his native Milwaukee in 2015.  Further tried-and-true originals like “Impossible” and “Tie Your Shoes” brought the band to a set-closing medley of brute. covers and an encore of Warren Zevon’s “Keep Me in Your Heart” and “Porch Song.”

After Friday provided an electrifying greeting to their fans in the Home of the Blues, Widespread Panic’s Saturday show shifted their focus from collaboration to fiery energy, well-placed covers and plenty of freely flowing improvisation. The group set up night two with the heavy funk of “Bust it Big,” then merged into a fan-favorite cover of J.J. Cale’s “Travelin’ Light.” That buoyant track carried Panic through “This Part of Town,” “Imitation Leather Shoes” and “Travelin’ Man,” the latter of which underscored a theme of road stories and lit up a five-track segued sequence that carried on through a set-closing rendition of Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime.”

Wisepread Panic emerged for their final set of the weekend with another well-traveled cover, this time broaching Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” for the 37th time on record. The classic “Tall Boy” set a tense tone that came to a head in a cathartic blast through 2024’s Hailbound Queen centerpiece, “King Baby,” which was in turn deftly merged into the outro of “Saint Ex.” Panic ended with the Dirty Side Down cut’s intro, then threw a rocking “Party at Your Mama’s House” and set up a seamless pairing of “Diner” and “C. Brown.” A roaring jam led by Jimmy Herring connected “All Time Low” and “Chilly Water” to wrap the second frame, then Widespread Panic finally concluded their weekend series with the recent rarity “Cosmic Confidante” and an ever-pertinent closer of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World,” covered for the second time this year and eighth to date.

Widespread Panic will perform next at Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater from Oct. 24-26. Find tickets and the band’s full live itinerary at widespreadpanic.com.

Read on for the full setlists from Friday and Saturday.

Widespread Panic
Mempho Music Festival
Radians Amphitheater – Memphis
10/3/25

Set I: Disco > Pleas > Love Tractor, Shut Up And Drive, I’m Not Alone, Little By Little, Thought Sausage, Up All Night, Junior
Set II: One Arm Steve, Surprise Valley, Blackout Blues, Straight To Hell*, Impossible > Jack, Bear’s Gone Fishin’ > Tie Your Shoes, Protein Drink > Sewing Machine
Encore: Keep Me in Your Heart, Porch Song
Notes:
* w/ Kevn Kinney on guitar/vocals

Widespread Panic
Mempho Music Festival
Radians Amphitheater – Memphis
10/4/25

Set I: Bust It Big > Travelin’ Light, This Part Of Town, Imitation Leather Shoes, Travelin’ Man > The Waker > Jamais Vu > Greta > Life During Wartime
Set II: For What It’s Worth, Tall Boy, King Baby > Saint Ex*, Party At Your Mama’s House, Diner > C. Brown, All Time Low > Chilly Water
Encore: Cosmic Confidante, Rockin’ In The Free World
Notes:
* Opened with outro, closed with intro