Photos by Fred Rice
Part 1: Chicago Theatre
For the 1st time in a decade, Widespread Panic decided to bring their annual Halloween run back to Chicago with 2 shows at the Chicago Theatre, on the 29th and 30th, culminating with one more show, Halloween night, at the Aragon Ballroom. With these being the last shows, of the year, besides New Years, and the closer to one memorable, 25th Anniversary Fall Tour, there couldn’t have been a more deserving town for such an occasion.
The energy was high as I arrived at the Chicago Theatre straight from Midway airport. Widespread Panic was back in the “Windy City.” Lin Brehmer, from WXRT Chicago, introduced the band, as he has done many a time, in previous years. Chicago has been a kind of “home away from home”, for the band and a huge supporter, since the early days. The band set the pace of the weekend with the three song opening of “Send Your Mind, Disco, & Walkin’.” Other highlights of the first set included the jam out of “One Arm Steve” into “Action Man” and a unique set closing of “Machine>Barstools”. It was time for the first break, of the weekend, and a chance to get settled in.
The second set opened with a ripping version of Impossible Song, the newer and always improving St Ex came out next leading us into Dave’s Bass licking opening to an always welcomed Stop-Go. All Time Low>Papa’s Home really got the crowd moving and the band into the swing of what was to be expected all weekend, and that was WSP at its finest! “Papa’s” segued into a nice Tie Your Shoes>Drums> Bass> TYS’s” sandwich. This included my favorite moment of the night which was a significant “Not Fade Away Jam” into Drums, which kept me awaiting the actual singing of the lyrics. Maybe next time! Jojo kept the crowd on its feet with a nice “Ride Me High” and the travel theme continued into “Pilgrims”, which I could hear at every show. A fun “Ribs & Whiskey” jammed its way into a “Blackout Blues” closer. The band came back with a rather unique encore and started the “bust outs & covers” with Bob Dylan’s “Baby Let Me Follow You Down” into Big Joe William’s “Baby, Please Don’t Go”, which had been played once before on Halloween 2008. Bloodkin’s “Makes Sense to Me” finished us off and sent us out to enjoy what the “late night” city of Chicago had to offer. For us, it would be Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons at the HOB the next three nights, but that’s a different story.
10/28/11 Chicago Theatre, Chicago, IL
1: Send Your Mind, Disco, Walkin’ (For Your Love), Up All Night, North, One Arm Steve > Action Man, Thought Sausage, Machine > Barstools and Dreamers
2: Impossible, Saint Ex > Stop-Go, All Time Low > Papa’s Home > Tie Your Shoes > Jam > Drums > Tie Your Shoes > Ride Me High > Pilgrims > Ribs And Whiskey > Blackout Blues
E: Baby, Let Me Follow You Down > Baby, Please Don’t Go, Makes Sense To Me
[‘Not Fade Away’ jam before ‘Drums’; Last ‘Baby, Please Don’t Go’ – 10/31/08, 219 shows]
After a great night of re-uniting with old friends and familiar faces it was back for night two at the Chicago Theatre. I don’t know if it was in tribute to the highly anticipated new release of Tom Wait’s new album or because it is a regular cover, but “Going Out West” got things started on this night. The rarely played rendition of Prof. Long Hairs “Stag-O-Lee” was presented to us next, by Jojo. A couple nice pairings came next, as highlights, which included a great “Little>Lily into Henry Parsons Died”. The crowd was getting down again, in full force, at this point. The opening rift which always throws everyone off, because it is sometimes the rare “Dirty Business”, but more likely and in this case was a well played version of “Christmas Katie” which nicely drifted into the rare, “Let it Rock.” JB really nailed this one down nicely and I thought it would close the set until I heard the opening notes to the old school instrumental known as “B of D”. I knew this would not close the set. It would be cool if it did, but sure enough the band launched into “Conrad” to really stomp down the first set.
At this point in the tour, the band is really on fire, and this next set would really remind us of their capabilities. “Tall Boy” got the crowd started again (Tall Boy was also one of the three Panic- named drink specials at the Chicago Theatre that weekend) and segued into one of my favorites, “She caught the Katy”. Our fourth Bloodkin cover, in two days, came next with “Can’t Get High”, and the newer original “Cotton Was King” followed. The band played a nice tribute to Mr. Houser with a great rendition of “Airplane” that would lead us into one of the most interesting and extreme moments of the weekend. A nice jam came out of “Airplane” and led us into “Greta”, at which point brought the crowd into a most inaudible explosion of cheering that actually drowned the band out completely. I thought there were naked girls onstage or something. I hadn’t heard the crowd hit this level of intensity in many years, if ever (I have attended nearly 200 shows). It was AMAZING! “Fishwater” came out of “Greta” and led us into another sandwich that was stuffed with a “Drums> “Driving Song” (both verses) > Arleen”. This version of “Arleen” stood out as another highlight of the night. I think JB threw in every “Arleen” rap that has ever been sung on this one, with some extra fervor. It was truly a work of art. This brought us back into “Fishwater” to finish the sandwich and close things out on a very high note.
As it was time for the last songs at the Chicago Theatre, before the band took a day off to set up for Halloween at the Aragon, the tension was high for what was to come, in the encore. They couldn’t have picked a better way to kick off “Halloween” then with the first rendition of the Doors’ “Peace Frog” since it was last played in Chicago in 1998. I saw both and this version seemed to be spot on and really topped the previous. “There’s Blood in the streets…the town of Chicago!” This segued, as does the Door’s studio version, into “Blue Sunday.” Excellent! JB then picked up his mandolin to give us a beautiful “End of the Show” followed up by an appropriate and crowd pleasing, “Ain’t life Grand”. At this point, I was fully blown away and ready for a day off until the Halloween show.
10/29/11 Chicago Theatre, Chicago, IL
1: Goin’ Out West, Stag-O-Lee, You Should Be Glad, Little Lilly > Henry Parsons Died, Me And The Devil Blues, You Got Yours, Christmas Katie > Let It Rock, B of D, Conrad
2: Tall Boy > She Caught The Katy, Can’t Get High, Cotton Was King, Airplane>Take Off Jam>*Greta > Fishwater > Drums > Driving Song > Arleen > Fishwater
E: Peace Frog > Blue Sunday, End Of The Show, Ain’t Life Grand
[‘Blood and Fire’ rap by Dave during ‘Arleen’; Last ‘Blue Sunday’ – 11/28/98, 1017 shows; Last ‘Peace Frog’ – 11/28/98, 1017 shows; Last ‘Stag-O-Lee’ – 11/04/07, 295 shows]*Take Off Jam between Airplane & Greta (edited by Bill McAlaine)
Part 2: Aragon Ballroom, Halloween Night
It had arrived! Halloween was here and the freak flag was flying outside the Aragon Ballroom, as WSP fans from around the country descended, in full costume. As I walked into the theatre (first time since the show in 1998), I was quick to 1st check out the stage set up, which appeared as a huge Zoltar future telling machine from the movie “Big.” It was also, as I was told later, set up to replicate the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, which occurred in Chicago. The Ballroom itself provides a rather unique setting on its own, as you can see in our photos.
As the band took the stage for its third and final time this tour, and in Chicago this year, I got up close to see their costumes. JB was dressed up as Geoff the robot sidekick from the Craig Ferguson show. Schools was dressed in a Blackhawk’s jersey and Hockey Mask (Jason style), Todd was appropriately Zoltar. Sunny was Shrek, and Jimmy and Jojo re-enacted a scene from Cubs baseball history. Jimmy dressed as Moises Alou who was interfered with by Cub’s legendary fan Steve Bartman, played by Jojo, from the infamous 2003 National League Championship Series. These costumes were a preface to the theme of this Halloween, which seemed to be, none other than, “Chicago!”
As the band took the stage in full Halloween garb, we anticipated what was to come this evening. They kicked things off with a heart stopping Pigeons that immediately got this colorful crowd rockin’! Radio Child kept the pace, and next came our first Halloween cover/bust out of the evening, with “Wishbone” which hadn’t been played since 12/15/89. I have never really listened to old versions before, but enjoyed this one. The new JB sung tune “True to My Nature” came out next. I am really growing to like this one. It has really developed a lot since its debut on the most recent album, “Dirty Side Down.” The Jerry Joseph written “Time Zones” came next and slowly built up to “Love Tractor” that got us all “bouncing in our seats” again. The first dark moment came with the band paying homage to their late friend Vic Chestnutt with the never played before, “Degenerate” that transitioned into Schools’ version of Chestnutt’s “Blight”. Our first musical Chicago reference came with Howling Wolf’s extra bluesy “Tail Dragger” played, for the first time, into a fun and set closing “Climb to Safety.” The first set was well played with some interesting and fun covers, but it would be the second set that would truly rock this Halloween crowd!
As the lights went down and the crowd roared, the band started tuning. Could it be? Would it be? Yes, it was the highly anticipated return of the Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla”. This was literally monstrous and I couldn’t believe I was hearing it. The last time it had been played was in Chicago on Halloween 1997. What was unique about this version was that it was actually going to be a sandwich with the band stopping short and jamming, into Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” for the first time ever! This gave a new meaning to JB’s costume, as he really looked like Iron Man at this moment. Just as soon as we realized what we had been hit with the band brought us back into “Godzilla.” Schools proceeded to throw one of his stuffed Godzilla’s from the top of his amp into the crowd. Next came great versions of “Imitation Leather Shoes>Jack”, and a “Surprise Valley>Drums>Surprise Valley” followed by “Blue Indian”, which brought the crowd roar down a needed notch. We were then treated to John Lennon’s “I’m Losing You” for the first time ever. There was no better way to end this epic Halloween set than with a “Chilly water> Bust Big> Chilly water” to close out the set, and bringing slight reference to their upcoming trip to “Mexico.” The crowd seemed to be in shock as we awaited the encore and high-fived and hugged our close friends around us.
The awaiting crowd roared the band back onstage. They came out with one more “first time played” song to start things off. It was “Outta Mind (Outta Sight)” by, no other than, Chicago’s own Wilco. A crowd “sing a long” ensued, with “Postcard”. “This town is nuts, my kind of place, I don’t want to leave!” Porch Song followed, as we all thought about our fallen hero, Michael Houser. Schools came out and thanked the band’s crew and the audience. He then proceeded to bring their crew out “to help sing one more”. With the entire band and crew onstage, they dropped into the Warren Zevon favorite “Werewolves of London” which had last been played on 10/31/08. This was yet another magical moment with our favorite band and friends alike. What a Halloween!! What a weekend!! Thanks Again Widespread Panic for doing what you do! Next show is New Years Eve and then some special shows in January of 2012 before the hiatus. See you all next time!!
This article is written, in loving memory, of Kathleen Bold McAlaine. Thanks for the encouragement!
10/31/11 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL
1: Pigeons > Radio Child > Wishbone, True To My Nature, Time Zones > Love Tractor, Degenerate > Blight > Tail Dragger > Climb To Safety
2: Godzilla > Iron Man > Godzilla, Imitation Leather Shoes > Jack, Surprise Valley > Drums > Surprise Valley > Blue Indian, I’m Losing You > Chilly Water > Bust It Big > Chilly Water
E: Outta Mind (Outta Sight), Postcard, Porch Song, Werewolves of London$
$with Steve Lopez on percussion
[Only ‘Degenerate’, Only ‘I’m Losing You’, Only ‘Iron Man’, Only ‘Outta Mind (Outta Sight)’, Only ‘Tail Dragger’; Entire crew on stage during ‘Werewolves of London’; Last ‘Godzilla’ – 10/31/97, 1152 shows; Last ‘Werewolves of London’ – 10/29/08, 222 shows; Last ‘Wishbone’ – 12/15/89, 2259 shows]
Set lists courtesy of Everyday Companion (with an edit by Bill McAlaine)
