"If I Ever Have a Kid, Gonna Name Him Eugene"
The plush Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center, a performing-arts center in the grandest sense,
has terrific sight lines and crystal-clear sound. The only negative is
that you can’t bring beers to your seat, which would’ve been nice to
know before I’d bought four of ’em. But it didn’t even matter because
this show in Eugene, Ore., was a smoker.
Any set-opening jam is all right with me. And if DRIVING > DISCO
> DRIVING follows that, even better. Panic then launched into GOOD
PEOPLE, and listening to its piano interlude now, it’s easy to spot
where JoJo’s DARK BAR
so easily fits in today. Next, to the crowd’s delight, the band played
GLORY—for only the second time in six years—before moving on to a tight
version of Willie Dixon’s
WEAK BRAIN, NARROW MIND, with Schools’ bass thumping away (as it did
throughout the night). LITTLE LILLY, BLIGHT (again, Schools seemed to
be feeling it) and an extended YOU SHOULD BE GLAD finished the set.
People stayed in their seats to hear DJ J Boogie spin throughout intermission. He closed his set with the Doors’ BREAK ON THROUGH (TO THE OTHER SIDE).
But before he finished, the accompanying sound of Schools’ bass reached
the stage before Dave actually got there. And then the rest of the band
joined in on the jam.
Again, it was a great start, and, truthfully, the whole set was one
jammy, delicious highlight. Eight second-set songs were each at least nine minutes long. There were smooth transitions from Jerry Joseph’s NORTH into Howlin’ Wolf’s SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING—which JB owned—into Widespread Panic’s CONRAD. After about 35 minutes, there was finally a long enough pause in the music for JB
to say, “We might as well. We’re here already.” And then they finished
the set the same way they started it: all passion, guitars and
thundering bass—SLEEPY MONKEY, TALL BOY, REBIRTHA > DRUMS > PAPA LEGBA,
SPACE WRANGLER.
The encore break was noisy, with people screaming and stomping their
feet. “Well, thank you, Euguene,” said JB. And then after a beat, he
added, “If I ever have
a kid, gonna name him Eugene!” Time was winding down, so we only
got a one-song encore, which is usually disappointing. But this searing
version of RED HOT MAMA was a great way to end one of the
best Panic shows I’d seen in years.