Asheville Recap Night 3 (7/26/25)
Listen to the entire show on Nugs or Relisten or Archive.org.
Data mined and explored via Everyday Companion.
After two heater shows the crowd was amped up, rearing to go and see what Black Sabbath / Ozzy treat we’d be gifted with. More tickets were again released at the box office, which again made it easy for everybody to get in. The area behind the stage was full of fans again, which added to the experience. The stage crystals were the talk of the town, it was obvious they were impacting the overall energy in the arena. It truly felt like a more grateful, present audience than some past runs.
JB came out in a backwards hat, and we all knew it was going down. Jojo’s sweet keys kicked off the last night in the Blue Ridge Mountains, to be honest our ground reporters thought it was Greta (spoiler alert…), but then BAM Good People. Starting a show hollering about ourselves being the Good People is HIGH VIBE. A beautiful reminder that the music and this band are the proverbial “waters” that make us whole again. After the Red Rocks write-up about the Good People / Dark Bar dynamic a few of us exchanged some knowing glances hoping we’d get our missing Dark Bar since Jojo’s voice was BACK.
No sandwich this time… to keep up with our standalone GP vs. GP as sandwich bread… that leaves us nerds with 162 standalone GP, 56 GP sandwiches with Dark Bar as the “meat,” and 3 GP sandwiches with “alternative meat.”
Instead of a Dark Bar sammie, we got a quick transition with the familiar bass line drop of Rebirtha. Supposedly the bass line was intended to mimic a woman with a big ol’ behind strutting around. It first debuted as an instrumental on 1/23/93 and was called “Apologies to George Porter” with lyrics added after it was performed three total times as an instrumental on 10/2/94. This is such a great song, one that’s pretty typical to hear every other run or so. JB blessed us with “I really can’t remember” before they fell into the jam. Sunny’s blocks added so much texture - he really is the heartbeat of Panic’s unique sound. It was an excellent version of the song, the band was locked in, so far a great start to the closing show.
Soon after Rebertha we finally got those familiar keys reminding us that Greta is indeed not a flower child. Go Jojo! The fourth “jojo” song of the run and another old school original one. Makes you wonder if those are his favorite… The crowd participation howling like rabid dogs was top notch. Jojo, Dave, and JB started asking “how’s it gonna be?” simultaneously and we got some great JB-isms “oh, how’s it gonna be child” “oooooh, child” “back mmmm back mmm alright!” with some other syllables in there that were pure magic. The jam kicked off just after the 5-minute mark and is raw southern Panic at its finest. An incredible Earthy soulful root-chakra-cleansing jam that gave the loyal fans all the feels. JB’s guitar was in the mix beautifully. Suddenly, it slowed down to a drumbeat from Duane….
MOTHER FUCKING CREAM PUFF???? BRICK WALLS BEWARE! It’s unlikely Heads were expecting this one, as no marshmallows were seen getting tossed around. It’s among the longest played covers they’ve done, first done on 4/17/86, they played it often in the late 80’s, then shelved it from 12/9/89 until Halloween 1995 (a 907 show gap). After ‘95 it was played always within a 100-show gap until 5/7/16-10/27/18 with a 105-show gap. The last time it was played was Napa 2023 (8/27/23) leaving us with a 47 show gap of Cream Puff.
Fun story time… a WATLO HQ staffer absolutely rage-danced during the Napa Cream Puff, which ended the entire run. Truly, limbs were flying everywhere and a solid mile of dancing was clocked in the mere 4:03. Afterwards, an old head came right up and said “Did you know… Cream Puff is the only song Jerry Garcia wrote BOTH the lyrics AND the music to?” WHAAAAAAT? No sir - we did not know that, but I’m very grateful to know it now. Released by the Grateful Dead in 1967 and written by our beloved Jerry Garcia - fitting for Jerry week, celebrated this week (8/1-8/9 - birthdate till death date). Here’s a live version from 7/16/66.
Well, that was unexpected. Early first set Cream Puff - the stage was set for a very special conclusion to the run.
Thankfully, the boys cooled it down a bit with I’m Not Alone. The lighting was absolutely superb all run, but this song really showcased the skills of Mr. Paul Hoffman. Sunny gets to show off a lot of his exotic percussion instruments here, it’s always a blast watching him. Several eye-witness reporters commented on how participatory the crowd was this night - lots of singing and camaraderie. It’s showcased so well in this song as everyone looked at each other exclaiming “I’m feeling a little bit easier now, knowing that you’re all here.” So beautiful. Dave’s bass line after the mega jam (in this version around 5:16) brought tears to a reporter’s eyes. JB ended the song with “I’m not alone anymore.” So true… so grateful to have been surrounded by so many loved ones sharing the same passion for Widespread Panic.
The song came to a full stop, and some beautiful gentle guitar strums opened up Small Town. A new tune that feels like it’s been part of their catalog for years. Singing “summer days” over and over again, and “hot summer nights barrels full of memories” in the heat of a southern summer night was such a treat. Let’s look at when it’s been played and how small the towns actually are:
Turns out Asheville is the second smallest town they’ve played this song in! Morrison is the smallest, BY FAR! Makes sense to us!
The song came to a gentle conclusion, and then John Keane sat down at the pedal guitar so freaking sneakily! If you weren’t paying attention you would not have realized he was up there. There was no announcement, no introduction, not a big to-do. He slunk down into his seat so swiftly, full-blown ninja style.
Dave’s bass dropped into Blight - hell-to-the-yes! Another song they played at the previous run, but no complaints here! It’s usually an every-other / every-three run song, but if they want to play it every single night, we are here for it! Dave enunciated the lyrics so well, “ado” came through so strongly and powerfully. The crowd went WILD when he said “mother fucking viral” the way he did. He was feeling it, and so were we! His little rap breakdown was, “I mean how fucking hard it is it to love your fellow man? I mean come on! Really?” Such a powerful message! Yes - let’s love each other, it shouldn’t be that hard. A message all heads should be excited to march forward with and a great takeaway from the entire run. JB and Dave exchanged the “shining through the blight of you” lyric so spiritually and eloquently. Chills down the entire spine. The jam was fabulous and there was an eerie colonel-y fizzle at the end.
Jojo brought us to This Part of Town (affectionately called TPOT). For old school spreadnecks, it’s hard not to hear Mikey’s voice singing this one… his spirit was definitely present. It was played at his last show with the band 7/2/02 and then rightfully shelved for 137 shows until 3/25/05. Since then, there really hasn’t been a huge show gap (53 show-gap 4/24/15-2/17/16 and a 32 show-gap 10/28/23-6/4/25). The breakdown in the middle is fantastic and exemplified the Panic “sound” so perfectly. Jimmy’s tone was spot on. A welcomed treat to any run!
Another full stop and the drumbeat to Blue Indian blessed us for the set one closer. “We got a party going on, many spirits strong” was a singalong for the ages, performed by the entire audience. Truthfully, our WATLO eyewitness reporter had never heard the crowd sing so loudly as we did all the way through “whole world’s going so.” The crowd participation during the entire show was LIT. Way to go, home team! JB said, “we’ll be right back” and we had our final set break errands to run, people to see, and hugs to exchange.
Eye-witness report from the bathroom at setbreak: “I overheard a woman in the bathroom line, and she said, ‘my crew knew night one they were going to play a Sabbath song they frequently play. Night two would be a Sabbath song they’ve played before but a rare one. And tonight, we are going to get a FTP.’ Pretty spot fucking on.”
Time for the sixth set of the Asheville run; And It Stoned Me was the second frame leadoff. We didn’t realize it yet, but this was our “water” song of the run. During the entire Asheville, we did not get a Chilly nor Fishwater - the last run that happened was Huntsville 2023. They played AISM last in Charleston where before that, there was a decent show gap of 116 shows. Of course this cover was written by Van Morrison and released in 1970. Morrison said in an interview in 1985, “I suppose I was about 12 years old. We used to go to a place called Ballystockart to fish. We stopped in the village on the way up to this place and I went to this little stone house, and there was an old man there with dark weather-beaten skin, and we asked him if he had any water. He gave us some water which he said he'd got from the stream. We drank some and everything seemed to stop for me. Time stood still. For five minutes everything was really quiet and I was in this 'other dimension'. That's what the song is about.” Sounds like some mighty fine water to us here at the WATLO HQ. JB OWNED this song, the way he howled “stoned me, stoned me, ooooh, to my core.” JB for President!
The mega-rich organ intro into Climb to Safety is what we all needed. A feel-good rager with major crowd participation and another opportunity to remind ourselves how amazing our community is. It seemed like the entire run JB was finding every opportunity to sneak “child” into the lyrics - we’re big fans of this effort! “Scream, child, at the conductor” - let’s go! Written by the Reverend Jerry Joseph and released in 1993, this was the 417th time the band reminded us it’s no fun to die alone. The crowd participation was ROARING - you can even hear us on the soundboard during “like some junkies swore they did” - kudos to all of you - it adds so much to the live music experience when the crowd sings that loudly. What a blast! JB added a lot of texture with his soulful additions “never, never, never, never be alooooooone” & “oh yeah yeah yeah.” Each member obliterated the jam, Jimmy most notably took it up to another level. The jam cooled down quickly until we were blessed with the familiar introduction into Hatfield.
Hatfield is an original song about an actual historical phenomenon. You can brush up on your Charles Hatfield knowledge on Wikipedia. In a nutshell, the song is about how in 1915 the San Diego City Council asked him to make rain for the reservoir of the Morena Dam after an unusually long drought. The Council agreed to pay him $10,000 only payable once the reservoir was filled - all under a verbal agreement. It rained straight from January 5th-20th, 1916 to the point of severe damage, including two dams overflowing. About 20 people died when the Lower Otay dam broke. The City refused to pay him unless he paid the damages that were caused, which were estimated to be $3.5 Million, which he obviously refused to pay. Since the Council wouldn’t pay him the $10 grand they promised, he sued, and the suit continued until NINETEEN THIRTYEIGHT. Two courts decided the rain was an act of God, so he was absolved of owing the City of San Diego $3.5 Million, but that also meant he never got the originally agreed upon fee of $10,000.
Okay, back to Panic… they played this one so well! They really always do. A song that contains so much meaning about magic and almost always includes an epic JB rap. Ahead of the highly anticipated rap JB added yet another “Lucky” call into his lyrical creativity:
(5:08) “Families on their porches, children are smiling. The owners are mad, the owners are LUCKY, the eyes of the children, baby children wide wide wide open”.
We hear you loud and clear JB!! WATLO is a VIBE!! As far as JB’s traditional and always all new German Grandma rap, here’s our staffer’s transcription from this version:
“I remember Hatfield’s Mama. Beautiful, big, big German lady. Used to come out and bring us beers when we were little kids. Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot in the summertime. Every summer, me and Hatfield be playing. Playing in backyards after school. Cowboys, Indians, rat patrol, ice station zebra. One day it just feel a little, little too real for pretend. Sit back, lawwwd watch all the clouds. Turn our sub-conscious into televisions. One day, one day… I’m gonna make it rain. I’m gonna fly a plane right up there in them clouds. Push that button. Ohhh, right there in that smell and those good smells coming out the window by the kitchen. Something bubbling… you could hear Hatfield’s Mama back in her big ol’ comfy chair. Just propped up with a threeeee stringed banjo. Laying down some.. Only Hatfield’s mama could, Tom Petty covers. Hatfield!”
Quickly after the rap, the song ended and Duane brought us into Keep Me in Your Heart. It’s a Warren Zevon cover, released on the album The Wind in 2003. Such a tear jerker and a beautiful reminder that our souls live on in our loved ones even after we transcend this life and cross the rainbow bridge. “That’s a Warren Zevon diddy” JB educated us, for those who don’t read the WATLO recaps.
The band ripped into North, the THIRD Jerry Joseph song of the run (fifth if you count Second Skin & King Baby). Released in 1993 on the album The Welcome Hunters. Panic first started covering the song on 9/25/99 and also released it on their 2010 album, Dirty Side Down. Besides Drums, this ended up being the longest song of the show. Dave’s backup vocals added so much. They rocked the hell out of it - everyone was raging, crowd included. Fist pumps were thrown, air guitars were played, and booties were shaking. JB really gets into the jam around minute 6. True Panic dorkin’ really is about telling people who think this is stupid that it’s actually cool. The WATLO HQ team thinks it’s really cool that we can learn all these amazing stats about beloved songs! Jimmy’s tone really blended in with everyone else so much, it felt softer and more cohesive. Tasteful face meltage. Dave laid it down so thick during every song, all the friggin’ time. Without a doubt he’s crushing it every minute of the show. This song was no exception, he threw it down for all 13:22. The whole band was jamming but then Duane really overpowered around 12:40 seconds until all members exited the stage except Mr. Trucks and Mr. Ortiz.
The crowd was treated to an epic 14+ minute drums - totally on its own, not sandwiched between another song or in the middle of a song we typically expect a long drums interlude in (ie. Papa’s Home or Surprise Valley). Really we can readily blame only two bands in history that have a traditional “drums” as a frequent track during a show: The Grateful Dead and Widespread Panic. It’s pretty cool to think about the significance of that. And, if you count Drums as a song, it’s by FAR the song most played. This was the 1,610th Drums played by Widespread Panic. The two of them up there certainly kept the WATLO HQ Staffer’s interest the entire time, as well as the crew’s. It’s incredible the depths and changes of sound that can come out of two men and two kits. Dave joined them around 12:15 and soon after, other members joined them. They produced quite a dense creepy jam that left the crowd wondering where they were headed next.
Jimmy’s guitar introduced Saint Ex. Sunny got to play with several sound making toys at the beginning, which is a welcomed treat! It’s been played five of the seven runs of 2025 and is always welcomed! It’s a beautiful story, has the perfect familiar sound of Panic, and rips HARD. Did you know… the lyrics were written by JB who was fascinated by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (he wrote the children’s book, “The Little Prince”). This is quite possibly the CUTEST video of JB and Jimmy explaining the meaning of the song - watch HERE. Essentially, a German pilot shot down a French pilot because they were flying in the same air space, and nationally they were enemies. However, when the German pilot learned he shot down the author of his favorite childhood book, he was devastated. JB interpreted him to think “if I knew I knew you, I never would have shot you down." ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. This was a great version, well executed, aren’t they all? Olly olly oxenfree!
Duane drummed us into DISCO! The third instrumental of the weekend, second Panic original instrumental. Widespread Panic composed instrumentals make the run noteworthy, in our humble opinion. The more original instrumentals, the more special the run. Here’s a list of their original instrumentals we have been blessed with over the years with the LTP date:
Played with Mr. Herring:
A of D (3/3/23)
B of D (6/22/24)
Breathing Slow (4/14/24)
Disco (7/26/25)
E on a G (2/28/20)
The Earth with Swallow You (only played once with Jimmy - 7/18/06)
Entering a Black Hole Backwards (9/15/23)
Galleon (8/10/22)
Happy (4/15/24)
Happy Child (9/17/22)
L.A. (7/13/19)
Machine (4/26/25)
Party at Your Mama’s House (7/25/25)
St Louis (1/20/24)
The Take Out (2/16/25)
Played pre-Jimmy:
Waiting for the Wind to Blow Down the Tree in My Backyard (only played once - 1/19/96)
Tears of a Woman (8/9/03)
Cleburne Terrace (11/4/94)
Sun Keep (10/15/90)
Cardboard Box (10/6/90)
West Virginia (10/7/00)
So far, in 2025 five of their original instrumentals have been played: Breathing Slow, The Take Out, Disco, PAYMH, and Machine. Thoughts and prayers for some more of their magical instrumentals to appear during the rest of the year!
Disco ended, and Pigeons were on the roof! What a banger. The crowd went wild with knowing nods exchanged between the audience members - let’s go! One of our favorite parts about Panic originals is their tempo changes - it’s common to have full head banging moments with rage-dancing mixed with more spacey soft jamming. This song showcases that dynamic perfectly and this version is no exception. It sped up, slowed down, ripped, got ethereal - such a classic tune they love playing a lot. This was the 1102nd time 9th floor office ladies wondered what the main character’s beady little eyes were trying to say. This is their third most played song. We always dig Sunny’s vibraslap, and the infamous goat toes got a shakey-shakey at 5:18. The breakdown at 5:41 was superb - asses got low as we funked out to Jojo and Dave throwing it DOWN. There was an incredibly extended echoey yell that felt more extended than usual. And we are blessed with some amazing ad-libbing by the preacherman himself: “oooooooohhhhhhhhhh wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up!”
“You can do anything inside there. Oooooh, you can bring it back and do anything out here too. Wake up, wake up, somebody gonna poke you anyway one day. Maybe your mama! Maybe your lover! Maybe one big ahhhhhhhh flash of lightning. Given no stone unturned, leave no personal stone, wake up, wake up, wake up, remember how to fly!”
The song ended and very quickly Dave’s bass started walking like a tweety birdy. Dave was FEELING it…. “Alright, Asheville, Saturday night!” and a fierce “come onnnnnnn” and lots of mumbles and grumbles at the end. The interchange of lyrics between Dave and JB were fabulous. Flat Foot Floozy is a NRBQ song released in 1970 and written by Steve Ferguson. Who could forget Dave’s rap during Flat Foot at Red Rocks 2024 when he reminded us that there’s always gray (not black and white), that love is in our heart, to tell our neighbor we love them and that we are friends, there’s not so much different between us, and to push our biscuits to the center of the table and we can ALL have some! He then turned to the other band members and said, “I love you guys.” It was more emotional and sentimental than we are used to from Schools, and fans didn’t realize it at the time, but it was the last show of the year. Dave’s sentiments really stuck with us and his message made a lot more sense knowing what we know now. A few of their runs in 2025 end on a Saturday night (Nashville, Asheville, and Boston), ending set 2 with this song is ideal, and we’re glad it happened on a run-closer.
Dave said, “Thank YOU!” and the set ended. One more opportunity to cheer them back on stage for the final encore in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Once everyone got back on stage, JB said, “Once again, our very good friend, Mr. John Keane.” He was back in his chair at the pedal steel guitar and the crowd was blessed with another Vic Chestnutt song, Expiration Day. Officially released by Brute in 2002 and then again on Uber Cobra in 2004, it first debuted on 12/31/01 when Vic sat in with them during the entire first set (refer to the previous night’s recap to learn more about Brute & that set). A tribute to dedicating oneself to a career, taking great pride in work, and honoring passion instead of money - it was a beautiful way to begin the final stretch of songs for the run. Jojo’s beautiful piano and a blissful cymbal shatter brought the song to a close.
JB threw the tiny guitar on, usually indicating Ain’t Life Grand or End of the Show. Since Red Rocks ended with End of the Show, most heads anticipated ALG - and we were right! This song elicited crowd participation and the Asheville Panic people were PREPARED. We threw the money down, we kissed our wives to chase off those blues, and we felt GOOOOOOOOD being children in our minds. It was a glorious last original Panic tune to get and it hit hard. John slinked off the stage right after ALG wrapped up.
Where was our Black Sabbath cover of the evening? It had to be next…. The crowd was going WIIIIIILD knowing we were in for some sort of treat. Here’s a beautiful eye-witness report submitted by Heather (please! We want more reports. Fill them out HERE):
My husband is THE BIGGEST Ozzy fan I know. He was crushed when we heard the news of his passing. We only had tickets to Saturday night in Asheville. We knew we would hear Sabbath or Ozzy that night and we kept waiting... and waiting... (I'm looking at you Saint Ex.)
When the sirens started - we were in shock & then so excited we were coming out of our skin. I actually looked at him during War Pigs & thought "this is why I married this man 24 years ago! For this moment right here!"
Pure bliss & so much fun to see my man so happy.
In addition to Heather’s husband, the entire crowd was RILED UP, totally mouth foaming with the beginning of the FTP War Pigs. Truly, the entire audience SHOUTING the lyrics felt like a rallying cry to damn the man, stop the war machine, and overturn the corrupt people in power. Even from the soundboard you can hear the crowd cheering and singing along. It was GLORIOUS. Chicken skin during the live performance and every single time fans relisten to our beloved heroes RIPPING it. JB’s vocals were unique and added the classic Panic flare to this 1970 song. Also off Black Sabbath’s Paranoid album - all three covers from the run were off the same album. Coincidence? Here’s a Black Sabbath live version, because we know many of us prefer live versions to songs. Each member CRUSHED this one, absolutely slaughtered it perfectly. Ozzy was proud and his Spirit was summoned to our deafening cries for the war pigs to beg mercies for their sins, and for Satan to laugh in their faces. Lord have mercy, we were BLESSED in Asheville. The sirens blazed on as the band exited the stage. Paul lit up the lights to say “OZZY” across the stage (such an endearing touch!) and fans stood there cheering as loud as we could. We thought there may be more… another song? A double encore? But alas, the crew started gathering their instruments and we knew it was all over.
The run was damn near perfect - truly the technical execution of the whole thing top to bottom was practically flawless. WATLO HQ staffers were extremely impressed as it feels like they keep getting better each run. It is noteworthy that there wasn’t a single sandwich, especially after mentioning sandwiches so often in the last run’s recaps. Hopefully we are blessed with more carrots and more sandwiches in Indy - see ya’ll in the Midwest!