Widespread Panic & the Fountain of Youth: “I’m so glad you could make it.”
[Story by Micaiah Filkins, photographs by Jeff Fernandez]
Tickets haven’t been this tough since NOLAWeen 2001. Saturday night of that run, at least a dozen fans bumrushed the door behind the STA section at UNO arena. They pushed through the guard, then ran through the doors, down the hall, down the stairs into the sea of fans; no one got hurt, no one got caught.
Many didn’t have that luck this last weekend for Widespread Panic’s three-night run at the Saint Augustine Amphitheatre (March 21–23). At The Amp, tickets were more than scarce; they were non-existent. Fans with 100s of shows under their belts were calling everyone they knew. I am sure that the band and the crew had rarely had so many requests for one kind favor from their network.
St. Augustine began life in 1565 making it one of the oldest cities in the U.S.A., if not the oldest. It is home to Ponce de Leon’s fountain of youth, the streets flooded with tourists in golf carts, some with pet alligators hanging out the back.
FRIDAY, MARCH 21
Since 2008 The Boys have now blessed this coastal town with eight three-night runs and three one-night stands, totaling 26 shows. The fan base has fallen in love with this tourist-heavy Floridian piece of American history.
This didn’t dampen the mood one iota. As I walked up to the box office Friday night to meet a friend who had a ticket for me, the vibes were on point. Shakedown was bustling; smiles graced every face. With a smile and a hug a ticket was in my possession. The kind security team wanded us, smiled, and said have a great show.
The first notes of the instrumental opener “Disco” Friday rang through the Live oaks and the Southern magnolias that graced the entrance. How dare you show up right on time!
The Panic community has been itching to boogie together. Here we are at the fourth show back after the hiatus of healing for Jimmy Herring. The band had canceled 14 shows to give the band’s lead guitarist Herring time to beat tonsil cancer. The first run back happened in Atlantic City a month ago.
Tonight as Jimmy, The White Wizard, laid his magic fingers to the wood and steel, you could feel that this is going to be a real good time. Our community has been so supportive of him through his journey.
As they surged through the raucous romp through “Disco,” one could see that not only has Jimmy fully recovered, he’s playing at his best. The notes were flowing smooth and fast, the emotion evident in each plucked note. His smile showed how happy he is to be back with his band mates, including his son-in-law, Duane Trucks, the band’s newest and youngest member. The Georgian sextet was showing the crowd “this ain’t no fooling around.”
Many Panic fans believe that when JB (John Bell) comes out with his hat on backwards that it is gonna be a heater. Friday night lent more evidence to this theory.
After Disco they melded straight into “Diner,” a combo not seen since Portland 3/17/15 a decade ago. The “Disco > Diner” has lore on the lot. The intro to this love song to JB’s wife emanates from the magnetized drivers. The fans were going wild; they have been eagerly awaiting this one-two punch. Tonight we got JB with his hat backwards and the double Ds starting off the night.
The 16-minute Diner began with Domingo “Sunny” Ortiz slapping his brand new sunrise-colored bongos with an ear-to-ear grin. The band sounded as tight as ever. It felt like we were the ones basking in the light.
The band’s primary songwriter, JB, wrote “Diner” when he was courting his beautiful wife; she was cooking in the diner. The song is a beautiful stroll through young love’s most heartfelt moments.
He says “…my backbone shivers as she looks this way.”
JoJo Herman shone during a somewhat rare first set sandwich. This time, the sandwich was one that is on the menu: “Good People > Dark Bar > Good People.” We saw this combo at Stifel in Saint Louis in 2024. It was also displayed at rock & roll mecca Red Rocks in 2023. The setlist creator again indicated that we were setting up for a rocking weekend.
They closed the first set with a pair of Bloodkin covers: “Can’t Get High” and “Henry Parsons Died.” The crowd noticed as hugs abounded, people remembering. This song is from one of the band’s favorite collaborators, Daniel Hutchens, another one we lost too soon. He still had much to give this world, even though he had given so much creativity already.
Jimmy’s solo during “Cotton Was King” was as hot as a stray stone colliding with a star. The band from Athens is back, no question about it.
SATURDAY, MARCH 22
In the second set night one, the train left the station with “Little By Little,” a song is on Snake Oil King, one of the two recently released albums from WP. It tells the story about how they worked hard and were persistent and resourceful, using their grandma’s car to get from show to show.
There is a seventh person on stage: Edie Griffin Jackson. During the lyric-less tunes like “Disco” she gets to dance; during the vocal tunes even those who don’t sign ASL can understand the message. She puts her whole self into it, her hands float like live oak leaves, showing those without the gift of hearing what the music is all about.
Dave Schools doesn’t sing every night, but the fans love it when he does. Friday he musta been feeling vocal. He stepped to the mic once more for “One Kind Favor,” the Blind Lemon Jefferson cover, his voice growling and purring as he says with glee “Go on JoJo.” Herman laid down a swinging bouncy piano solo, then elegantly handed it off to the band’s lead magician, Gandalf the Loud. Jimmy picked it up once more, sending notes straight through fans’ eardrums directly to their heart.
Second set ends with a triple-stack sandwich. The fan favorite “Fishwater” bookended three tunes: “Drums,” “Maggot Brain,” and the first song The Boys ever played live, way back on February 12, 1986, the Buffalo Springfield protest song, “For What It’s Worth.” One cannot miss the evident inference to the current political environment.
As the band headed into the long-awaited intro to “Maggot Brain,” Dave Schools, the band’s formidable bass man, treated the rabid fans to a very rare spoken word intro to this George Clinton classic. Dave was rocking red pants as he did during the Valentine’s Day show in Atlantic City.
They don’t play this Funkadelic standard often. They hadn’t put the spoken word intro into a setlist since October 9, 2009, at BJCC Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. Fans with hundreds of shows under their belts were losing their ever-loving minds. Fists were pumping, hugs and high fives all around. To say the crowd was happy is a gross understatement.
Friday night brought a heat not felt since Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and his conquistadors lit beach bonfires some 500 years ago on this very stretch of land.
Saturday, the second night of the run, tickets were even more difficult to obtain. More than a few fans lamented that they were experiencing their first-ever parking lot listening party. With Panic en la Playa off the 2025 docket, more fans than ever were ready when tickets went on sale, and they went lightning quick. Four hours before show time, there were only four tickets available on the scalper sites, selling for $2,500 a piece! Fans were doing everything in their power to wrangle the few available tickets. It isn’t hot in St, Auggie in March, but the heat was on for tickets leading up to the show.
Track selection in set one had a motion and movement theme. Schools’ bass licks stood out. It feels to me that since playing with Spirit Guide at Sweetwater earlier this month that he is feeling a bit more jazzy. He was smiling and thumping his lead bass style. Dave laid it down for Neil Young’s “Walk On.” This ended up being the only cover in this first set. It was also the first of three walking-themed songs; “Walk On” was followed by “Walking (For Your Love),” then into “We Walk Each Other Home,” a song from the recent album inspired by the Ram Das book of a similar name from the ’80s. The rumor mill says JB wrote it about a dog he lost recently.
They must have been walking to the bar as next, as they laid down a smoking “Up All Night” followed by “Honky Red.” Then it was “Pilgrims” before launching into “Space Wrangler.” The care and intention that the set curator used was not lost on fans, a very special treat itself. Very little this sextet does is unintentional. The traveling theme here is easy to see.
They opened set two with an 18-minute “Second Skin,” JB crooning “Baby, listen, we’re about to be born again.” During “Sleeping Man” we heard Schools say, “Sleep on ’em, Jimmy!” With that, the White Wizard showed the audience his magic once more, laying out a sultry yet blistering solo that had the crowd screaming.
They dropped the political “King Baby,” once more showing their love for our country and their political leanings, before driving “Love Tractor,” a tune inspired by a band of the same name from the early Athens scene. The set closed with an exciting charge through Tom Petty’s hit “You Wreck Me,” not one single ass in seat.
SUNDAY, MARCH 23
Sunday they gifted the faithful fanbase with an opener sandwich, a rather rare treat. This double stack featured “Driving Song > Jack > Bust It Big > Driving Song Seems right that we got a “Drivin’” on the day that attendees would back on the A1A off to the next destination. If you weren’t yet convinced that they have intention, the “Shut Up and Drive” a couple songs later should rest the case. “Christmas Katie” went down slow and sweet like a bourbon tea at a spring dance. “Action Man” closed out the fifth set of the weekend.
During the closing set of the March run we got yet another sandwich! They were feeding us like a good Southern mom; we had had four sandwiches this weekend; that doesn’t happen often.
This time the build are all covers. Traffic’s “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” was the bread, with General Echo’s “Arleen” filling this one. Fans were boogying like they were born to, their eyes closed, their smiles glazed. The Boys from Athens closed the final set with “Ain’t Life Grand,” reminding all in attendance to feel gratitude for this one life we have been given.
The “Vacation” encore makes sense to me, with all the jaded tourists we saw wandering around Saint Augustine. It gave me visions of a young JB and Mikey swimming in the waves. In my imagination, as JB intoned the words, “With you by my side, I just might get back from my vacation.”
It is a crowd favorite, one that fans were happy is back in more regular rotation. It had been on the shelf for a decade or so a few years back. JoJo plucked the shiny ivories brightly, closing out the weekend with “Blackout Blues.”
This was your writer’s first time seeing Panic here in St Augustine. I was happily surprised by the genuine kindness that radiated from the staff. They seemed to love us fans.
The chance of being shut out sets one up to make the glee of actually getting to see all three shows, feel like seeing the love of your life for the first time. Your chest vibrates like the floor here at The Amp, the crowd so excited. It’s the best therapy money can buy. I know I left Sunday night feeling like a million freshly printed bucks.
The credible crew packed the gear and shipped it north to Music City. 50 days hence Widespread Panic will play their next three-nighter at Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville. I hope I see you there.
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