Listening to Widespread Panic's Final Show

[absyntheNsugar]

12/31/03...MAN THAT SHOW ROCKED!!!! Three Sets, two encores...MAN!

They must have known this would be the last show all of them would give...and they played their hearts out...

Grateful Dead 10/20/74...Phish 10/7/00...funny how the *final* shows are always the greatest...

[kayleybeth]

1. Final?

I heard they were just taking a year off.

[absyntheNsugar]

2. Well final with the original guitarist

He died of Pancreatic Cancer - Just like Bill Hicks :(

[kayleybeth]

3. Mikey died in 2002

in August or September I think. I have their final show with Mike but I don't know the date of it. Had to be early summer of 2002 or before. You're right it is an awesome show. Gotta love Panic.

[absyntheNsugar]

4. did not know that

well it was an awesome show nonetheless

[kayleybeth]

5. 12/31/03 was Madison Square Garden

With George on guitar. I don't have that one.

[rocktop15]

6. 10/7/00 was an average Phish show...........

10-7-00 had a killer setlist but the boys took off because their playing was getting stale. I have that show and it is good but not great. The greatest Phish shows ever are 6/11/94, 6/22/94, 12/31/95, and 11/17/97. Fall 97 is the best Phish period ever.

I think WP blow BTW. The GD were HIGHLY overrated. Just my opinion.

[kayleybeth]

7. Aww man...

I agree with you about the GD but not Panic. I love WP's live shows.

[absyntheNsugar]

8. Panic is awesome, and GD was good in their "good" days

That is 1974-79. (I will get flamed for this but...) IN the 60's every show they did sounded the same. It was in the 70's they started to really get good, but at the same time Jerry started to really get Persian Heroin. So pretty much any show after the closing of Winterland was bad.

[absyntheNsugar]

9. 10/7/00 had some amazing hooks

I have the show too...You gotta Admit the Mikes-Hydrogen-Weekapaugh was amazing! Those hooks Trey interspersed...simply genius! And that Tweezer!

I never really liked pre-97 Phish - their studio albums were great back then but their live shows were a bit like pure vodka, no ice. Strong but not smooth.

[kayleybeth]

11. Not a Phish fan myself

Their style is way too busy for me. I can appreciate improvisation but I just never "got" Phish. I know tons of people who love them though, including Mr. kayleybeth. I guess you either "get them" or you don't, and I fall into the latter category.

[ronzo]

10. I'll say this...

If you caught a couple of Dead shows and can call it overrated, I guess I'll buy that. GD were real "time and place" for me.
You can't keep me away from the occasional Phish show we get around here, but you say Panic blows? I'm always floored by the WP v. Phish thing.

Here's to opinions.
:toast:

[rocktop15]

12. LISTEN to WP

They're a bar band that made it big. The fact they play to crowds bigger than 50 people blows my mind. I play guitar so I can appreaciate good music. Half of WP's songs involve one string or simple chord progressions.

I saw a comparison I really liked a while back about Phish, WP, and the GD.

WP is like NASCAR. It only does one thing. The cars only go fast and make left turns.

Phish is like complex Indy racing. They can slow down and speed up on a dime. They have different tracks. The indy cars are smooth and gentle, but can be in your face.

The Dead----well, they're like that car your grandpa used to race in that is sitting in your backyard. It was fast in its days, but now it's rusted, old, and the original engine is dead. It still runs but burns oil, wobbles, and resembles nothing of its original self.

[ronzo]

13. Fair enough.

I'm also a musician, FWIW... and you'll be hard pressed to hear me say that a band sucks. I like the analogy, though. Perhaps we could compare these bands to fruit.

[kayleybeth]

14. "Perhaps we could compare these bands to fruit"

LOL! The Dreadful Grapes?