Panic Little Rock 7-10-2007 article, setlist, torrent
Read on for notes of preview from the day before the concert, then setlists and show log, and a contextual look at song stats for “Gimme” by Widespread Panic from 1988-2007.
Arkansas is all-about the Widespread Panic show tonight, Tuesday 7-10-2007 in Little Rock at Riverfest Amphitheatre (formerly known as Riverfront Amphitheater). Honest Tunes will be rocking-out in The Rock tonight. No radio show / webcast this week, but we’ll be back on the air next week, hopefully with a recording from the WSP show (bit torrent link is below).
^^ Click to check out the newspaper clipping
A reporter from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette called me this week and asked me what I think about Widespread Panic, their history in Arkansas, and their sound with the new lead guitarist Jimmy Herring. She asked me how I would explain Panic to a friend who isn’t a fan. We chatted for a half-hour. A few dgold quotes were used in the article (published in the Sunday editon of the statewide newspaper), along with quotes from Domingo “Sunny” Ortiz, the percussionist of WSP, who I’ve been a fan of since the early 1990′s. Here is an excerpt newspaper clipping of the story, and local photo(s) of the venue by the river (courtesy of various LR promotional galleries).
07/10/07 Riverfest Amphitheatre, Little Rock, AR
1: The Take Out > Walkin’ (For Your Love) > Little Lilly > Radio Child, Can’t Get High, Pickin’ Up The Pieces, Tortured Artist > Jam > Spoonful > Porch Song
2: Junior > reverse intro jam > Hatfield, Time Zones, Old Neighborhood, Sleepy Monkey > Jam > Ain’t Life Grand > Mini Drums > One Arm Steve > Gimme* > Love Tractor
E: Are You Ready For The Country? > All Time Low
[Soundcheck: 'Maggot Brain', 'Little Wing', 'B of D'; * First "Gimme" with just Jimmy on lead guitar]
“Spoonful” (in relation to Dave Schools podcast radio series about the blues with his dad John Rhys) was a major highlight, and segued into a version of Porch Song that was best-described by my friend Dalla$ here at his first Panic show who said it was “soaring” to close first set. Tortured Artist and One Arm Steve are 2 formerly boring songs that now have vigor and improvisation with spit-n-vinegar from Jimmy Herring and the band responding and playing together with a renewed strength. Gimme was a personal highlight (see the Comments below for a full review), and matched with Pickin’ Up The Pieces, provided an ethereal soundscape for eyes turning up from the river to the skies.
Dalla$ and Dgold went to the show and enjoyed the view from Row A, Center of the Reserved section (see seating chart graphic below; we were right over the heads of the people in The Pit). Dallas Dempsey is the individual referred to in the Democrat-Gazette article in terms of “getting on board with the music”, which he pretty much did to a good extent albeit not a crazy throwdown – remarking that is was indeed a sweet show and Herring was ripping on the guitar. We had a blast, and he will go again for sure. Other DJ’s and co-hosts of our radio show were there including Scooter (I ran into him and Lizzy at Sticky Fingerz pre-show); Dunaway was there but we didn’t find each other; Dirty Biz Elizabeth was there with FOJ dancing in the pit; John-Garrett (aka DJ Jigga) with Bkarn from Jammin’ Java coffee house on the square; and my old friend from LR, Clint (sometimes a DJ on KABF 88.3 FM community radio in LR with a jam show called “The Soundboard”!).
Also my friends Zippy and Kelly Bass (who wrote the Panic Turns to Gold article for the Arkansas Times in 1997, and afterwards I took him to the WSP show at Robinson Auditorium that year and introduced him to Widespread Panic… so now 10 years later I got to spread another ticket to K-Bass.)
Jeremy was there with his Mom, taking her to her first WSP show. I took my mom to see Panic at the same venue several years ago. In both cases, the moms enjoyed it & remarked on how the people were all smiling and nice and very VERY into the music.
Leeann brought Jeff for his first show, and they managed to score last minute 2nd row seats right behind-left of me. I rode down to the show with Andy and Karen (we played disc golf at Burn’s Park, about 10 holes, then got Mex to Go and Margs from Levy and cruised to the Lots under the bridge to wait out the rain and eat our dinner, cruising perfectly into the show when the rain let up just as we were ready to rock.) JackstrawfromTN also somehow scored 2 tickets on the 2nd row of reserved, right before he was gonna plunk down for Lawn.
Dave and his sister K., and nolagirl (who jetted in last minute on alternative plans) were holding down the front row, riding the rail in front of JB, down in the steamy heat of The Pit. I went up there for the first 3 songs of second set (Junior > Hatfield reverse jam > Hatfield, Time Zones). Great folks. We took Mad to the hotel after and got ready to hit the road, Dave got us back to Fayetteville around 3:30 AM.
DandyID
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July 11th, 2007 at 2:05 AM UTC 2007n 7-11-07
More pictures of Riverfest Amphitheater in Little Rock Arkansas from around the web
July 12th, 2007 at 2:02 AM UTC 2007n 7-12-07
Review of “Gimme” from LR 7-10-07
Little Rock last night = First-time played with just Jimmy on lead guitar. First “Gimme” without Holt covering lead guitar since Houser 2001.
GIMME
11/19/88 Little Five Points Pub, Atlanta, GA – First known “Gimme”
“Gimme” was played ~80 times, regular but increasingly uncommon from 1988 to 01/26/93 Myskin’s, Charleston, SC
> 318 shows > 04/14/95 Red Bank, NJ – the longest bust-out of “Gimme”
“Gimme” was played ~35 times, as a rare song from 1995 to 2001 including 04/11/97 Bronco Bowl, Dallas, TX (“Gimme > Pigeons” appears on Light Fuse Get Away)
> 28 shows > 11/20/01 Johnson City, TN – Michael Houser’s last “Gimme”
> 256 shows > 11/06/05 The Fillmore, Denver, CO – Holt, Gmac (2nd longest gap)
> 3 shows > 12/31/05 Philips, Atlanta, GA – Holt, Gmac
> 10 shows > 06/25/06 Red Rocks, CO – Holt, Keane, Gmac
> 25 shows > 08/01/06 Louisville, KY – Holt, Keane
> 20 shows > 09/27/06 Charlottesville, VA – Holt, Keane, Herring
> 71 shows > 07/10/07 Little Rock, AR – Jimmy Herring (3rd longest gap)
7-10-2007 LR “Gimme” review
By Dgold
It was a great feeling in the atmosphere when they played it outdoors in Riverfront Park in LR last night under humid hazy stars and rainclean skies. Schools and JB, cast in green light, did a great performance of apparent sincerity and memory on it with fine backing from the band: Give me a hand here Michael. Gimme a lift here Larry. Gimme a kiss, on Tuesday. It was a Tuesday. JB changed a line to sing “I’d gve you my heart, Give you my soul” (from: “Give you my heart if I could”) and sent the note out on souuuul. This is a Houser song that JB has pretty much always been the singer (most but not all other times Houser sang his own lyrics). He’s got to take on a Mikey aspect to deliver this kind of moment. I felt they collectively did a fine job of their old familiar song – although they can play it better yet if they play it again sooner.
When it got to Jimmy’s little mini solo at the end, that part was thin but it was 5% of a short song. He didn’t add much, but then, Houser kept it understated here. He’ll add on more next time, as his familiarity with the Panic back-catalog of rarities continues to grow.
The fact they busted it out in LR — first time played since 2001 without Holt or Holt and Keane covering — I thought it was a great moment and Houser nod. Many of the older fans particularly seemed to enjoy this. It had a mellow connection with another Houser song from the 1st set, “Pickin’ Up The Pieces.” I felt both were the ideal spacey-eyed pace for the riverfront show, a delicate lull that built up tension and dynamics in the show.
The LR07 show is up for download,
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=508125
Everytime “Gimme” has been played by Widespread Panic,
http://everydaycompanion.com/played/GIMME.asp
Lyrics, story behind the song:
http://everydaycompanion.com/l...../gimme.asp
July 12th, 2007 at 2:34 AM UTC 2007n 7-12-07
http://www2.arkansasonline.com/
Widespread Panic spreading its chaos at Amphitheatre
By Ingrid Norton, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Sunday, July 8, 2007
LITTLE ROCK — Domingo Ortiz first played with Widespread Panic at the Uptown Lounge in Athens, Ga., more than 20 years ago. Ortiz, a percussionist who plays everything from bongos to log drums, said he was impressed by how in tune with each other all the players were – and by how much they seemed to be enjoying themselves at their weekly gigs at the mediumsize bar.
In 1988 when the band, which had been together for three years at that point, asked him to become a permanent member, he said yes.
“Sometimes it’s fate,†Ortiz said, “hooking up like that.â€
Now, nearly two decades later, the band is a long way from the Uptown Lounge. The group has recorded nine studio albums and toured all over the country as well as internationally, playing showsfor a fiercely loyal fan base. Everydaycompanion.com, a fan site that puts the set lists and chords to Widespread’s music on the Web, lists more than 130 songs written by the group. There are even more covers and songs by collaborators that the band, known for rangy jam rock, includes in its repertoire.
Ortiz said that to keep the shows fresh the band keeps a master list of hundreds of songs to play and will revisit a tune if it hasn’t been played live in a while. He said that although the band likes recording, the music is really about the shows.
“[Recording], you do it as many times as it takes to get it right,†Ortiz said. “And that’s all good and proper and everything, but we really shine in the live element.â€
He said the band is constantly evolving. After founding member Michael Houser died of pancreatic cancer in 2002, Ortiz said the members shared their grief with each other but made a decision to “keep on moving.†He is quick to add that they stillplay Houser’s songs.
Ortiz said he has seen the fan base evolve with the times. Though there are still “tapers†who record the shows on cassettes, Ortiz said that the current generation is more techsavvy and likely to demand high-quality recordings of the shows, which the band supplies for download on the Web site, widespreadpanic.com.
Little Rock native Daniel Gold can testify. Gold has been a Widespread Panic fan since he saw the band play in Memphis in 1992 when he was 16. Gold said he was drawn to the band’s energy – “how they were flirting with the edge of chaos.†In the years since then, Gold has attended more than 100 Widespread Panic shows. He has been to all eight of the shows the band has played in Arkansas, starting with one at the now-defunct North Oaks Special Events Center in North Little Rock where the bandblended a song called “The Rock†with another called “Aunt Avis†to open the show. Gold estimates the medley was 12 minutes long and said he was rapt the whole time.
In 1997 Gold co-founded An Honest Tune, a Widespread Panic-oriented magazine, and in 2000 he started producing Honest Tunes, a weekly radio show from Fayetteville, where he now attends the University of Arkansas School of Law. The titles derive from a song on the sextet’s first album, Space Wrangler, which includes the lyric: “Choose my bluest tape and unlock my car/An honest tune with a lingering lead/has taken me this far.â€
Gold said he is excited about the band’s new lineup: Earlier this year Jimmy Herring, a guitarist who has played with the Allman Brothers, the Grateful Dead and Aquarium Rescue Unit, came on board with original members John Bell, JohnHermann, Todd Nance, Dave Schools and Ortiz.
“Now they’re completely on fire,†he said. “They’re really fresh and improvisational.â€
He said that, given his experiences at the band’s four previous shows at the Riverfest Amphitheatre, he can’t wait to see them this week. He said that usually the band, which has no opening act, plays its first set at dusk, takes a break after sunset and returns for a second time at night with a light show. He is going with three friends, one of whom has never seen a Panic show and whom he hopes gets “on board with the music.â€
“They really just turn Little Rock into a Panic town,†he said.
Ortiz said it is fans like Gold who sustain the band.
“It’s the fans that keep us going,†he said. “Without them coming in mass numbers, we’d still be playing in bars.â€
———————————
MUSIC
Widespread Panic
8 p.m. Tuesday, Riverfest Amphitheatre, Little Rock
Tickets: $32 for pit, lawn and
reserved seats
(501) 975-7575
Style, Pages 56 on 07/08/2007
Copyright © 2007, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
July 13th, 2007 at 1:24 AM UTC 2007n 7-13-07
7-10-2007 Little Rock “Spoonful > Porch Song” review
spoonful …. what a version for LR… banks of the Arkansas River bringing up the bubbling sparse and fierce blues with JB frontman for a hell of a band. they’re so restrained at 2-3 minutes in it sounds like the song could be ending but really they are opening up space around JB’s words and then for free playing for a few minutes. JB gets to squeeling at the end of it, with Dave and Jojo backing vocals.
I think they are playing a bit more of the blues numbers in light of Dave’s podcast revalations about how The Blues was 1 pervasive influence, i.e. the radio show with Dave’s Dad on bluepower.com ; they ended 1st set with SPOONFUL > Porch & opened 2nd set with JUNIOR for more blues (on the Jr. they have quite a different approach)
every member of the band plays well and hangs together on Spoonful all the way to the Porch transition, Herring plays off of Jojo a bit, Jojo plays good piano stuff before moving back to organ. Nothing Herring plays on this Spoonful is too shreddy, he does get axey for about 5 seconds but it’s all restrained and in the mud of the music.
naturally, some of the words come out JBism, a cursory listen // rough transcript,
spoon that spoon that spoonful
spoon that spoon that spoonful
could be a spoonful of coffee
could a been a drop of tea
a spoonful of your precious love
all i need
men lies about it, men cries about it
can’t get enough of it / spoonful
spoon that spoon that spoonful
spoon that spoon that spoonful
maybe a spoonful of diamonds
spoonful of gold
spoonful of that look in your eye
satisfy my soul
>>> around 5:55 – Jojo plays an interesting piano lead (he’s lively for this show IMO), we’ve all heard him play this riff before (it’s a good one), probably in Spoonful or other blues but he’s also played it in the Little Kin jam IIRC, somethin’ like that – ne1 keanefirm pls?
been something you saw
picture in your mind
??
catch you ??
men cried about it / spoonful
see the men lied about it / spoonful
{jb squeeling about something, lolz}
10-and a half minutes
straight into Porch Song set closer = things that go boom
July 13th, 2007 at 10:42 AM UTC 2007n 7-13-07
Hey man, that’s great. What a good time it was… a truly memorable experience and definitly one of the best concerts I’ve been to for 3 reasons: the company, the music, and the seats. I look forward to catching up with you at more shows in the future, including the harvest music festival. Bring on the TLG!
Dalla$ (Dempsey)