Widespread Panic @ Greek 7/8/6

[Drunk Monk]

Last year, WSP really rocked me. I was convinced they were the top jam band out there at the time. WSP mimics the Dead with two drummers, keys, and lead, rhythm and bass guitars. The bass guitarist is heavy set and wears all black and even stands in Jerry's old position. That being said, they don't play Dead songs at all, althought they do have a drum solo of sorts. No space. Nobody does space like the Dead. No one even comes near.

This year, WSP weren't as moving for me, but still interesting. The show had some fine moments, including a point where the whole crowd cheered in unison with the music in a perfectly timed call-response fashion. Obviously they all knew the song well. We refered to the crowd as 'Old Navy' hippies, young, clean-cut, washed, and dressed in Old Navy clothes - pot smokers, beer drinkers, a few psychedelic users, but nothing that extreme - a fun, good-looking, nice-smelling crowd. I personally think what WSP lacks are spinners. That would put them on the next level. But then again, there aren't a whole lot of jam bands out there, so they still reign as one of the leaders of the sound. It's just great to see people dance freely to the music, uninhibited by how absurd they look while doing it.

[Drunk Monk]

Jimmy Herring replaced George McConnell as lead guitarist - McConnell has been filling the shoes of Houser (aka Panic) since his death half a decade ago. Herring, of course, was with the Allman Bros, and one of Phil's longstanding Friends. The band has a heavy hippie sound, guitar heroes with jam band sensibilities. There was a fine jam over Floyd's One of these days baseline and a nice Cream Puff War encore. It was enjoyable but not captivating.

The crowd was on its feet dancing all the way through. There's nothing like a sold out house of writhing hippies. One guy was wearing a shirt that said "hippies smell". There were a lot of great costumes, a lot of ravy stuff, a lot of dreads, a lot of typcial jam band t-shirts and jeans, not nearly as Old Navy as before, some fine exotic stuff like belly dancer outfits and short skirts with big furry boots, a few elves, some pseudo B&D outfits, a couple vinyl goths, and one horribly garish tranny. Bat belts (leather or nylon belts with all sorts of holsters) are all the rage now. I'm resisting following that trend; it just wouldn't work for me anyway. They have a Renn Faire feel to them. Years ago I might have gone for it, but now I think it would make me look fat.

The Paramount was the star attraction. It's such a beautiful venue. I think the last time I was there was with ED for Tom Waits. That was like over a decade ago, was it ED? Hell I can't remember. I remember it was an awesome show tho. One of the etched glass door panels was broken last night (this was a three-show run); I heard it would be a $4000 repair.

I didn't plan to go at all tonight. I was considering crashing DMB @ SLA because Stephan Marley was opening but I was contacted by two of our psych crew, including the doc running the show, and told if I could come, I should. So I did. I guess I'm glad I did. It was fun to waltz through the front door without a ticket or anything and be completely welcome by the staff, despite few of them knowing me.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

You may have caught the flotsam from The Lovefest Parade. Your crowd description was what Civic Center and some of SOMA looked like yesterday.

Today, of course, it looked quite different.

[Drunk Monk]

I'm sure PPFY looked simply dashing in his bare-ass-cheek thong chaps. I remember the first time I saw the Folsom Street Fair. AFS was never the same after that.

I doubt there was too much Lovefest spillover. If I was at the Lovefest in SF, I'd have stayed there for the night. I wouldn't have made my way over to Oakland for Panic. Panic is just getting more odd as the other jam bands fall to the wayside. They are really the frontrunner now that SCI has called it quits.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

"Ass-less chaps", dontcha know. Thongs are for suburbanites and poseurs. Had an interesting chat with one of the local cafe owners about the maintenance of hygene when most of your customers are not wearing anything on their asses.

Windex. Lots and lots of windex.

Back to Widespread Panic.

[Drunk Monk]

DM totally defers to PPFY when it comes to bare-ass-cheek thong chaps vs. ass-less chaps terminology. PPFY's ass-less chap fu is far more powerful than DM's. DM concedes this match.
:butthead: :butthead: :butthead: