NYE RUN REVIEW BACKUP

Stats:

• 34 Originals
• 17 Covers
• 51 Unique Songs

• Midnight Special
• Time Is On My Side
• Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Shows by State:

• NC - 2

Something Special:

• 6th-annual Tunes For Tots Charity Event marks Widespread Panic's return from a 10 month hiatus, with a celebratory evening to fund Music Education in schools through instruments and equipment!
•  VIP cocktail party for 50 lucky fans includes raffle, pre-show party with the band with 5pm entry, drinks and buffet, exclusive VIP access, and a poster autographed by the band.
•  Folks begin lining up at 3pm for this ticketless entry event
• Sunny appears minutes before doors, to chuck out some t-shirts and check out the scene!
• The rumors of NO STREAM ALLOWED due to new original music being rehearsed for the Tunes For Tots shows turn out to be untrue - Couch tour commences as Team Dirty South Tapers and Zman are given the green-light from Tour Manager Steve Lopez.
• Introductory House Music: 8:01 pm: 'The Boys Are Back In Town'
• Closing House Music: 'Welcome Back' (Theme song from Welcome Back, Kotter)
• Songs Not Played on Wood Tour: Give, Impossible, Radio Child

• No hat-tips to their musician buds - Vic Chesnutt, Bloodkin, or Jerry Joseph tonight.
• Prior to NYE: Eminence Front > Tricky > Smooth Criminal. NYE Countdown... at about 6 some streamers shoot off... hit 1 confetti cannons blast off... 'HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM WIDESPREAD PANIC & CREW' over the backdrop. Auld Lang Syne and Happy New Year scrolling across the arena.... house music comes up - Tequila after the countdown.
• The band would return after a shower of confetti and Auld Lang Syne
  Closing Music (NYE): Theme from Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not) 
• Light show: Lighting Director Paul Hoffman is known to model his stage rig after objects (See "Pi" - (Orange Beach 2009), "Pagoda" - (Fall 2009), "Uterus" - (Spring & Summer 2010), "Fighter" - (Fall 2010), "Clamshell" - (Spring & Summer 2011) and "Wifi" - (Fall 2011)), this year let's just call this badboy "Stargate"...  Circle rigs behind the stage, moving yokes, and massive lighting truss over the floor... moon, fractals, eclipse, fullmetal alchemist transmutation circles, earth, alien intervention, Sunday mornin show sun.  
• Shane O'Gwynn: re the calendar.... I think it's a stargate. the center is the target area. The next group of rings, the egyptian hieroglyphs are the destination code. The music and the spirit of the people merge and travel inside the lights, through the portal, to the desired location. 
• Jimmy on PRS most of the night, Telecaster some later in the show.
• Paul's ridiculous light rig
• House Music: Eminence Front, Smooth Criminal, Tricky, Tequila
• Fog lights around the soundboard
• Joel Byron at the ready during Jack
• Sirius/XM Jam_On stream
• Sold Out Crowd
• Second Harvest Food Bank of America Food & Fund Drive
• Mention the # of songs
• Getting into the show was a breeze - Time Warner Arena has figured this crowd out this time around! The circular LED backdrop has pics from Wood Tour on display… but coincidentally, the microphones on stage are pitched up high, and no seats are out - the boys are bringing the electric first set back.
• Not only is it the last show of the year, but it marks the official end to hiatus!  
• Of the 26 NYE celebrations in year's past, the band has only gone without special guests 6 times ('07, '98, '90, '89, '88, '86) and tonight they're going pure Panic, and three sets of electric! A chance to fall in love with the electric sound all over again.

12/30/12 The Fillmore, Charlotte, NC Stream | Download

1: Stop Go > Pleas, Give, Christmas Katie > Good Morning Little Schoolgirl > Radio Child, Trouble, Pickin' Up The Pieces > Good People > Use Me > Makes Sense To Me

2: Diner > Blackout Blues, St. Louis, Space Wrangler, It Ain't No Use, Hatfield > Impossible > Worry > Climb To Safety

E: Papa's Home > Travelin' Light

[Soundcheck: 'Worry'; 'Lawyers, Guns, and Money'; 'The Other One' jam after 'Good Morning Little Schoolgirl'; 'You Should Be Glad' tease during 'Radio Child'; 'Good Morning Little Schoolgirl' rap during 'Use Me'; 'Red Hot Mama' tease during 'It Ain't No Use'; 'Wicked Game' tease during 'It Ain't No Use']

Notes: SOLD OUT: $150.00 GA / $500.00 VIP | Tunes for Tots Info | Doors: 5:00pm VIP / 7:00pm GA / Showtime: 8:00pm | Pre-order Download/CD of the Show | Seating Capacity: 2,000 (includes VIP area with private bar and restrooms) | Charlotte Fillmore Seating Chart


1:

Stop-Go >
Album: Space Wrangler '88
Vintage: 04/07/86

Pleas >
Album: Everyday '93
Vintage: 01/22/88

Give,
Album: Don't Tell The Band '01
Vintage: 04/07/00

Christmas Katie,
Album: 'Til The Medicine Takes '99
Vintage: 04/18/98

Good Morning Little Schoolgirl >
Album:
Vintage: 10/05/87

Radio Child,
Album: Bombs & Butterflies '97
Vintage: 03/26/95

Trouble,
Album:
Vintage: 03/11/89

Pickin' Up The Pieces >
Album: Everyday '93
Vintage: 06/26/99

Goodpeople >
Album: Earth To America '06
Vintage: 03/26/05

Use Me >
Album:
Vintage: 10/31/97

Makes Sense To Me
Album: Widespread Panic
Vintage: 04/01/99


2:
Diner >
Album: Everyday '93
Vintage: 02/07/92

Blackout Blues,
Album: Ain't Life Grand '94
Vintage: 11/17/93

St. Louis,
Album: Dirty Side Down '10
Vintage: 10/19/07

Space Wrangler,
Album: Space Wrangler '88
Vintage: 10/19/85

It Ain't No Use >
Album:
Vintage: 01/13/90

Hatfield >
Album: Everyday '93
Vintage: 02/09/92

Impossible >
Album: Unreleased (Light Fuse, Get Away)
Vintage: 08/04/88

Worry,
Album: Unreleased (Live In The Classic City)
Vintage: ??/??/85

Climb To Safety
Album: 'Til The Medicine Takes '99
Vintage: 01/20/96

E:
Papa's Home >
Album: Everyday '93
Vintage: 08/27/92

Travelin' Light
Album: Space Wrangler '88
Vintage: 04/17/86



Set 1:

• Vintage 1st set (all songs debuted before 2001)
• JB thanks the sold out crowd of 15,000 fans "for giving us our old jobs back!", the houselights drop, deep blue hues paint the backdrop and a fierce cover of Neil Young's 'Last Dance' sets us into orbit, with swirling purple lights and a golden shot across the crowd!
• How often has LD opened a sho? Most common in the encore slot, but has Opened a handful of hot ones over the years... but Has there ever been a Sammy?answer is no! It's one of the oldest covers in the catalog, a song Mikey, JB and Dave first played at the Uptown Lounge before they were even really Widespread Panic... So it's time for the boys to get back to work, indeed!
• Last Dance segues into 'Vacation' - all eyes are in for a surprise, that round LED screen lights up with earth on the horizon, and the surface of the moon standing behind the stage... eventually the stars come out with the sun way in the background...
• The dripping exit jam in C alchemizes into the 'Last Dance' bridge - and it's a wonder they've never sandwiched this combination before!
• With Sunny tapping away, Schools drops into a drone, producing the down-beat 'Ribs And Whiskey' vamp, and JB pulls the black Washburn and slide out to take the first verse down. Dave is playing the hook to 'Down On The Farm'
• After those sticky ribs, a tender bit rests on the horizon… with 'Party At Your Mama's House'; Jimmy taking on a throaty, overdriven solo, over the rhythm section, taking double time for a volcanic eruption 'Stop Breakin' Down Blues' - the 3rd JB slide song in a row!
• The purples and blue hues fade into a loud green...
• 75th anniversary of Robert Johnson recording session where the song was original recorded.
• JB strolls over to Jojo at stage right, as he rattles off an old timey electric piano solo... with a nod from JB, he earns another set of bars on the B-3.
• Lively version… go ahead and take a shower, friends…. that was FILTHY!
• Break > JB switches to the deep red stained Washburn, tunes on the 'Casa Del Grillo' intro as Paul washes the crowd in red dots and the back of stage with a solar storm for 'All Time Low'!
  Really heating up nicely towards the end, with a jam passage of deep funk, and super slick movement into
• 'Rock'… and a black and white stargate with Egyptian hieroglyphs painted on the backdrop... we set the destination to make it home, and wrap up the set with a bang. Before the bridge, Bell's raunchiest slide guitar trills cut through a batch of the stickiest funk a first set could offer!
• Man, that all JB 1st set clinic ended way too soon!

Set 2:

• No better way to start a set than with a Disco opener! Giving everyone a chance to pass around the lead and shine under Paul Hoffman's kaleidoscope lights! Schools really reaching with a hypnotic baseline after the second set. Jojo just goin' off, psychedelia from all corners of the stage, and Jimmy plugging along with some beautiful rhythm play. Schools hits the envelope filter, producing a funky rumble. Slow down and rumble into the honky-tonk, wurlitzer intro of...
• Greta… UGA game tomorrow and Jojo's first song of the evening is always a favorite and sure to get the crowd thumping! Her massive peak was exquisitely ramshackle - its continuous outward mutation, bubbles up before crashing into the tonic with a sonic boom! Fractals are kicking in now at center stage, and
• Love Tractor teased by Schools, materializes when Jojo brings it 'round. JB, as colorful as ever with his free-style prose, and a frenzied and booming backend jam - exhorting hoots, hollers and face puckering amongst the rowdy crowd.
•  Sell Sell, probably the most requested new cover from Wood Tour - even the acoustic version sounded electric... and the song provided a new vehicular for exploration.
• What better way to provoke delirious crowd reaction than with the errant metal burst of notes characteristic of 'Machine'! infront of a jarring Mayan carving with his tounge out, which morphed into a sinister eye, before a solar storm.
• Slip into the comfortable, steady grove of 'Barstools And Dreamers'. With robot-like efficiency, JB's voice is somehow gleams and snarls as he delivers weaves the thread of his rap with painterly strokes. Jojo's rich organ work colors the jam with ringing harmonics that mimic Todd Nance's high hat, echoing psychedelia over the crowd.
• Up All Night, Schools drops a bomb signaling the jam that's become the norm since last  (look this up), JB heads over to Sunny to lock into the steady beat, then over to Jimmy and Jojo to riff with them... Schools begins to tease a little Allman Brothers, before Herring hungrily picks up a hint of 'In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed', joining with Schools' to conclude the jam with that soaring melody played in unison before entering back into 'Up All Night'! Swirling lights behind the stage switch from blue and yellow to green and red, for the 'Best thing about new years is the christmas lights', and JB shouts out North Carolina! and the sun finally appears on the backdrop to finsih the song.
• After the new-ish 'Up All Night', the lights switch to midnight blue and purple geometric patterns across the backdrop, JB cranks up the heavy tremolo, strums the opening chords to a brand-spankin'-new, and traditional folk cover mostly associated with Creedence Clearwater Revival - 'Midnight Special'! Surely somebody in the house called that one tonight, it's been a request for many years. JB passes off a ragtime electric piano solo to Jojo... Schools heavy on the backup vocals...on the last few bars a blueish green moon materializes on the screen, with swirling stars shooting into the VIP boxes.
• Surely a few called it tonight, 'cause people been calling for Midnight Special forever. First CCR cover since Born On The Bayou?

Set 3:

• Steve Lopez with the countdown to lucky number 2013... Note eater chomping down numbers and then spitting up 2013... Green laser beam simulation. Ticker tape Fired a little early...
• Jimmy returns to the stage with his twangy Telecaster in hand, and the place goes from kissy-kissy to lookin' like an insane asylum when Todd does counts out the beat and 'Pigeons' drops... A funky, festive tune in the confetti filled stadium. JB with a primal scream, inviting all to wake up before the riveting rap! Everyone's on the moon at this point, looking down at Mother Earth behind the stage. JB proclaims it as 'a brand new, new year's eve song, right there.'
• And then go into this set's only non-vintage tune; 'Time Is On My Side' - the first US top-ten hit that lodged The Rolling Stones in the rock and roll firmament. JB performing with vocal prowess in front of a gorgeous purple fractal backdrop, Jimmy has a chance to repeat the last chorus and verse in the form of a lyrical solo to. And as the lyrics would suggest... we all came running back! It should be noted that the!
• > And here comes that momentous mosaic of New Orleans' sound. Whistling, frenetic conga solo... funky ass bass line - and the booming Houserian guitar line of 'Fishwater' that cuts to the bone! Jimmy switches back to PRS, After Sunny and Todd take up a game of metrical chess, Schools scampers into the 4/4, kicking it down HARD with a wide, fat thunk and the wave of his hand, which sends the crowd reeling - screaming for more!
• 'Blue Indian' - splendid version, and perhaps the most delicate song of the evening. A slow, plush Cadillac verse revs up for the bridge, lifting spirits... little downtime before Jojo drops the hook to...
• 'Ride Me High', and we're flyin' again. Jojo is cool and evenhanded as ever, his vocal is uncharacteristically polished, and B-3 work on top of Jimmy's rhythm play is building unhurried and gently. With the press of Schools' distortion pedal, an exploratory space is opens coming back into the hook! A seamless key change marks a beautiful and seemingly composed section of major, uplifting interplay, down to conclude the song before dropping into the dark and jarring 
• 'Goin' Out West'! Todd Nance leading us into tribal territory, riding his the bass drum - a hard backbeat for the guitars to riff on. Soundman Dros' wicked vox effects, as JB mimics the unmistakable phrasing and vocal texture of Tom Waits, sounding possessed through the first verse! At the conclusion of the song, Schools descends from the upper register with the Grateful Dead's 'Mind Left Body Jam' - passing the baton to Jimmy, amidst stage laughter...
• And with a catch of breath, 'Jack' appears with a volume swell... As we're approaching the climax of the song, Todd's mom whomps up the biscuits, Jimmy takes the lead, but his guitar signal cuts from the mix! Guitar Tech Joel Byron diligently works to restore the sound, Jojo fills the void, slapping out liquid B-3 riffs, whilst JB hammers out some licks, and Jimmy comes back just for the last lick of the song. Schools says "Yeah, the Mayans were right about your amp!" and
• Herring's crackling guitar, in a lasting state of melodic invention, propels the sextet into high-gear during 'Maggot Brain' - with the moon forming a solar eclipse on a glowing purple stage. His gently rolling improvisation spirals into a sheer display of guitar pyrotechnics, reminiscent of the old days. The textural turbulence intensifies in force, and resolves with white spinning lights, and the simulated chaos of 'Chilly Water'.
• Paul Hoffman cues the red and yellow sunface as JB belts out "the mornin's crying rays of sunrise", and Jimmy's tone takes on its roughest and most rambunctious edge of the evening... Jojo lays down some trippy synth-like effects before the short drum break... and returns with some exemplary B-3 boogie. JB's last call for water is his most evocative vocal delivery of the evening - his processed, and desperate to the point of mind altering voice raises the rafters - get that man some water!
• One more, maybe?! Yes. JB busts out the mandolin and straps her on. Purple, yellow and blue lights flash, and the spotlight drops on him, Paul lights up the crowd, revealing arms and bodies flailing!
• Todd tips his hat, Schools salutes the crowd, Jojo gives a wave, and JB... lets out a freakin' Howard Dean "yeaaw!?" as the houselights drop and the boys exit the stage amidst cheers!

Encore:

• Kick up another incredible bonus round for the ages... Schools out first, loosening up his wrists. JB steps to the mic and greets the crowd, Paul switches on the bright whites, to shine out over the crowd. Everybody's ready.
• The Ballad of John And Yoko, followed by a song the two aformentioned artists penned, and one you surely heard this Christmas season; Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

But it was not until Sunday evening at The Fillmore Charlotte, a cozily cluttered theater on the Lower East Side that became that Ms. Cuckson could publicly celebrate.

Ben Ratliff NY Times
Robert Palmer NY Times

Band Description:

Playing strong and loud

Crowd Description:
Energy now crackling between band and audience
A strong set for an appreciative audience

Show Description:

The ritual of music

Song Description:

a light-footed grace
The sextet in high-gear, propelled along by…
unrelenting
nothing less than peak intensity throughout
motown flavor
exquisitely ramshackle
feels like an airplane taking off
volcanic erruption
cold, brittle and pulsing
A beautiful and charged tune
Flashing and intense as ever
Snappy rhythm
Propulsion
Ascending to its highest altitude yet

Venue Description:

Segueway/jam:

the long stretch of drama assimilates into the
A simulated chaos
Blurring the musical boundary between it and 'new song'
Opening up a new space within the song
momentous entrance
the playing loosens up consideribly

Schools:

Burnished bass sounds
lurching along, mocking the jazz slag
deep funk
an enveloping sound
Unmatched intensity, power and drive from Schools!
with a wide, fat thunk and the wave of his hand… Schools sends the crowd reeling
dancing gracefully around the beat

Jimmy:

Cutting through the mix with a gleaming lead.
Herring, in a lasting state of melodic invention
gently rolling improvised solo
picking a nimble and terse solo as apposed to reeling off rapid-fire arpeggios.
a spiraling, lyrical solo
crackling guitar
guitar pyrotechnics

Jojo:

Kaleidoscopic
exemplary

JB:

evocative (strong images, memories, feelings to mind)
Soulful and substantial
vocal prowess
cutting closer to the bone with
delivers his rap with painterly strokes
"his percussive vocal phrasing displays an extraordinary affinity for drum patterns"
JB, raising the rafters of the venue with the words "thanks for giving us our old jobs back!"
Sang with satisfying richness of tone

Sunny:

Sunny playing metrical games over Todd's rock solid 4/4 beat
scampering percussion
maddening polyrythms
textural turbulence that intensifies in force

Todd:

Mimic Nance's high hat
rhythmic authority
Crisp, pinpoint definition


In like fashion

exhorted them to redouble their efforts in energy and volume with, ultimately, stirring results.

No one left the hall prematurely during an account abetted by lush strings; lucid woodwind solos, burnished brass and horn chorales; ; and passages of crystalline transparency.

felt slightly erratic.
Luminous
Sprightly
Hearty