Last night, Widespread Panic descended upon the Beacon Theatre in New York City to kick off the first of their five-night residency at the iconic Upper West Side venue. The Thursday night concert featured several fan favorites as well as a bust-out cover of The Beatles’ “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” which was last performed by the band in 2019.
Widespread Panic’s Beacon Theatre run was initially slated to take place from Sept. 16 through 20, 2021, and was postponed until January 13 through 17, 2022, and ultimately rescheduled to the current dates. Thursday night began with “Heroes” followed by “Rebirtha,” which segued into “Papa Johnny Road.”
The ensemble continued their first set of music with a pairing of “Good People” with “Dark Bar,” which was capped with a jammed-out take and return to “Good People.” Next, Widespread Panic picked up another paternal link on “Papa’s Home” before the band unleashed “Shut Up and Drive.”
The Athen, Ga.-native dug into 1999’s “Blue Indian” off their sixth studio album, ‘Til the Medicine Takes, before delivering the final song of the first set, a take on “Wonderin’.” For their second set, Widespread Panic picked back up with a pairing of “Cease Fire” and a cover of “Henry Parsons Died,” written by Bloodkin’s Daniel Hutchens and Eric Cartner.
Next, they landed on “Time Zones” before a tour debut of “Happy,” which melted into “Jamais Vu (Has Changed The World),” a tune that was released on 2015’s Street Dogs. Next, the band performed a cover of War’s “Four Cornered Room,” a song that segued into an illustrious jam with elements of “Machine Gun” worked into “Impossible” and eventually “Worry.”
Widespread Panic busted out a cover of the John Lennon and Paul McCartney penned “Hide Your Love Away,” which was last performed by the ensemble in 2019. The latter segued into the final song of the second set, the title track off 1994’s Ain’t Life Grand. The band followed up with a two-song encore featuring “Down” and “Makes Sense to Me.”
Following last night’s performance, Widespread Panic will return to the stage for their second night at the Beacon Theatre this evening. The band will remain in New York City throughout the weekend, wrapping their residency on Monday, July 25, following what is expected to be an action-packed weekend for the Georgia rockers.
Tickets for this weekend's show at the Beacon Theatre are available and can be purchased here.
Scroll down to view the complete setlist.
Widespread Panic
Beacon Theatre – New York
July 21, 2022
Set I: Heroes, Rebirtha > Papa Johnny Road, Good People > Dark Bar > Good People, Papa’s Home, Shut Up and Drive, Blue Indian, Wonderin’
Set II: Cease Fire > Henry Parsons Died, Time Zones, Happy > Jamais Vu > Four Cornered Room > Impossible > Worry, Hide Your Love Away* > Ain’t Life Grand
Enc.: Down, Makes Sense to Me
Notes:
* The Beatles cover, last played in 2019
