photo via Widespread Panic Facebook

Over the weekend, Widespread Panic closed out their extended West Coast summer tour with three nights at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. This was the band’s return to the Orpheum after performing two shows at the venue in 2014. During each of these shows the band revisited some classic material, offering numerous fans the opportunity to experience songs they had long been chasing.

On Thursday, the six-piece kicked off the run with Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” a fitting selection as it references Hollywood’s Sunset Strip curfew riots in 1966. From there the band moved into an energetic pairing of “Tall Boy” and “Rock.” The three-song sequence that followed was another early highlight offering 26 minutes of music that spanned “Rebirtha,” “King Baby” and “Worry.” The evening’s big bust-out opened set two as the group played the David Byrne tune “Papa Legba” for the first time since 4/18/23. The song which appeared on Talking Heads 1986 album True Stories debuted on Panic setlists the next year but has appeared only occasionally as of late. A 15-minute “Second Skin” came next and led into “Blue Indian.” This preceded another memorable move from “Tackle Box Hero” into “Surprise Valley” on into “Blight,” then a return to “Surprise Valley.” Later on the set Panic charged into War’s “Four Cornered Room,” which appears about every 30 shows these days, and then powered into “Chilly Water.”

Friday’s show ended in notable fashion as the three-song encore featured “May Your Glass Be Filled,” “Postcard” and then Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades.” The group debuted the  Motörhead cover on Halloween 2013 and then six more times prior to Friday, most recently on 4/29/23. The close of the opening set also had the audience buzzing as an exploratory jam was resolved into what was a nearly 17 minute “Jack,” that gave way to a spirited “Imitation Leather Shoes.” Second set highlights were paired versions of “Big Wooly Mammoth” and “Makes Sense To Me,” along with “Party At Your Mama’s House” and “Ribs And Whiskey.”

On the closing night Widespread Panic dug deep into its live repertore to deliver multiple tunes that had long fallen out of rotation. Three songs into the first set the group offered a series of tunes that began with Panic’s “All Time Low,” then the blues standard “Spoonful” which segued into Frank Zappa’s “Muffin Man.” The group had previously played the song by the longtime Los Angeles resident only once, on 9/19/10 at Pier 6 Pavilion in Baltimore. Later in the set, after “We Walk Each Other Home,” and “Walkin’ (For Your Love)” the group looked back even further into its past by playing original “Meeting of the Waters” for the first time since 10/26/23, the same year it debuted on Ball. Panic continued to revisit older songs during set two, delivering instrumental “Galleon” for only the third time since 2001 (and last on 8/10/22), as well as early original “Breathing Slow” which last appeared on 4/14/24 (and previously five years before). Finally, another classic LA group was acknowledged via a set-closing cover of The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues,” which the Widespread Panic has played only three times, with the prior occasion on 12/29/23.The encore was Neil Young’s “Last Dance,” which last surfaced on 9/15/23, followed by Bloodkin’s fitting “End of Show” (an infrequent selection in its own right).

Widespread Panic is off until three nights in Atlantic City from August 14-16.

7/23/26 Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles, CA
1: For What It’s Worth, Tall Boy > Rock, Rebirtha > King Baby > Worry, Tickle the Truth, Henry Parsons Died
2: Papa Legba, Second Skin > Blue Indian, Tackle Box Hero > Surprise Valley > Blight > Surprise Valley, Saint Ex, Four Cornered Room, Chilly Water
E: Keep Me in Your Heart, Climb To Safety

Entire show with Nick Johnson on guitar
[Without Jimmy]

7/24/26 Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles, CA
1: Down, Disco, Greta, Action Man, Don’t Wanna Lose You, Tail Dragger, Jack, Imitation Leather Shoes
2: Halloween Face, Pickin’ Up The Pieces, Big Wooly Mammoth > Makes Sense To Me, Party At Your Mama’s House > Ribs And Whiskey, Protein Drink > Sewing Machine, Pigeons
E: May Your Glass Be Filled, Postcard, Ace of Spades

Entire show with Nick Johnson on guitar
[Without Jimmy]

7/25/26 Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles, CA
1: Goin’ Out West, The Take Out > Porch Song, All Time Low > Spoonful > Muffin Man > We Walk Each Other Home, Walkin’ (For Your Love), Meeting of the Waters > Love Tractor
2: Fishwater, Space Wrangler, Vacation, Galleon > Driving Song > Breathing Slow > Honky Red, Hatfield, Bust It Big > Roadhouse Blues
E: Last Dance, End Of The Show

Entire show with Nick Johnson on guitar
[Without Jimmy]