Red Rocks Recap Night 2 (6/28/2025)
Listen to the entire show on Nugs or Relisten.
Data mined and explored via Everyday Companion.
Night two settled in with a unique and cool groovy bass-based reverb laden funk echo intro, Bartsools! This version sounded a little slower than usual, but could that be because there was NO MACHINE? Let’s talk nerdy, shall we? Here are the previous nine dates Panic opened with Barstools:
04/26/89
04/06/90
12/28/90
08/30/91
09/12/92
01/22/96
10/22/96
07/16/97
12/30/23
Machine was first played on 10/6/86 (Sunny’s first show!) and the first time it was played directly before Barstools was 5/9/88. It was first played after Barstools on 6/8/88. Starting about summer/fall ‘89 it became more common to see them played as Machine > Barstools. But, still not a guarantee. See table below for data since 2020:
Two more noteworthy shows since 2020 using Machine/Barstools as mega-sandwich materials: 10/8/21 & 5/7/22
With a quick bass drop, we were getting down to Sharon, an amazing cover that feels like a familiar friend. JB channeled Dave Bromberg so well. We get some mad improvisation here, from both JB and then Schools. Let’s review:
About 4:20 into the song - JB: “well a two step quickstep and a Bossanova, little turkeys so fat, rooted by the tree man, you… should have seen her dancin’ right across the floor. Lay me down my tuxedo, child - you know I’ll come back for dat some more. O then girl, she smiled a smile for the whole world to see. Into a light (or night?) she flashed her smile, looked me right in the eye, right at me. Lord have mercy, jumped six feet in the air cause when I came down, that girl wasn’t there.
About 11:08 - Dave: “tastes like biscuits”
So much intrigue and mystery was added to a song with already iconic lyrics. Sharon is one of the ultimate crowd participation songs and this version got every head in the venue whipped up into an absolute lather. This same rowdy crowd LOVES being back over and over and over again!
Junior is what we at WATLO HQ consider a perfect Panic song. Dear JB: we can affirm that the proverbial little dog does indeed love you. After a brief pause, we got another classic Panic tune, Holden Oversoul. JB substitutes “working” with “playing in the heat” - definitely felt like we were all playing out there on the heated Rocks! Jojo raged the organ and made it known to all heads that his hands were definitely in mint condition for this run, despite his face being in less-than ideal condition. He and Jimmy had a moment in the latter half of the song where they were pushing each other to go and get it just a little bit harder, very tastefully done!
The rest of the band shut up while Duane kept driving as we were blessed with a polished gem off the Dirty Side Down Album. Shut Up & Drive has evolved so much since they first played it live on 5/8/10, of course with Todd Nance on drums (RIP to the driver of the van, the Todd Father, our OG engine: 11/20/62-8/19/20). It’s such a beautiful picturesque story with soaring guitar tones, bent strings, and precision riffs - all iconic and signature Jimmy Herring.
After another stop, we were all beaming ready to share this news with the world: WE ARE THE GOOD PEOPLE! The question, however, on everyone’s mind was if Good People would stand alone or if they would sandwich it with something other than Dark Bar, since we knew DB was out because Jojo was not singing. Lo and behold, it was a clean, tidy, straight standalone Good People.
GP debuted on 3/26/05 and was played 65 times before the first Dark Bar debuted on 6/28/08 (right here at Red Rocks), then Dark Bar went on hiatus for seven years, making a c-c-c-comeback on 6/29/19 (also at Red Rocks). See the GP / DB timeline below:
The THREE total times they’ve used Good People as sandwich “bread” with something other than Dark Bar as the “meat” are as follows:
10/10/08 Backyard, Bee Cave, TX: Livin’ in the USA (only time played)
12/29/23 Fox Theater, Atlanta, GA: One Arm Steve
4/25/25 Ascend Amphitheater, Nashville, TN: Pigeons > Proving Ground > Jack > Proving Ground
With the stand alone Good People finishing, Chuck Leavell (The Tree Man) took the stage and we had the pleasure of another blues cover, Taildragger, originally recorded by Howlin’ Wolf and released in 1969. We love hearing Panic rip these legendary blues tunes and it was a nice way to ease Chuck into the mix. We’re also huge fans of JB on the slide guitar! Turn JB up!!
The lights turned blue with the faintest strum of Blue Indian and the whole crowd was ready to do-si-do! An extra set of hands on keys? What’s not to love about this incredible Panic tune. Ain't Life Grand was a welcomed first set closer. JB forgot about his wife's blues when he fully omitted the line “my wife’s got the blues” but at least he remembered that HE had them too! With everyone in agreement that life certainly was GRAND, the first set was concluded. Fans had a break to hug their neighbors and celebrate the magical sacred space of Red Rocks Amphitheater.
An unusually short set break compared to nights 1 and 3… they were ready to prank us all with Knockin’ ‘Round the Zoo (a James Taylor cover originally released in the UK in 1968 and in the US in 1969). Their 2025 tour has an unusual number of Thursday shows, given their new touring format of 1-2 weekend runs per month. Honestly, we were “expecting” one in Nashville, Chicago, and the upcoming Asheville run. But… nope! They prank us by knockin’ ‘round the zoo on a Saturday evening. This was the 161st Knockin’ played by the Boys and the 10th time played in the last 10 years. How often has it been played on a Thursday? Let’s investigate the last ten times it’s been played… if you want to look at the other 151 times, please, be our guest.
Playing by the “rules” 60% of the time - that’s a passing grade! We grade on a curve here at WATLO HQ...
We loved hearing JB call out Jojo’s name and then getting that amazing organ solo! Schools’ vocals got frisky with extra jabs here and there. We even got whispery harmonized phrasing from JB and DAS including Dave adding “mm mmm m mm” followed by a tremendously ferocious Schools war cry in the second to last run through of the chorus. A+ version of Knockin’ ‘Round the Zoo.
Such a smooth transition from Jojo right into You Got Yours. Yet again, we were blown away by School's backup vocals. He’s a very underrated backup vocalist. Check out this quote from DAS during an interview for Goldmine Magazine:
GM: How much did John Keane have to do with the sound that would define you as a band?
DS: John’s a mentor more than a producer and he’s one of us. He is someone we trust and we give special attention to what he has to say because he has the goods to back it up. John’s an amazing guitar player and vocalist. As far as background vocal coaching goes and getting us to move out of our comfort zone he does it in a way that doesn’t make us feel belittled. He’s just making us aware of the potential that we have. I think that that is a super important quality of a good producer. Even when we go back to his place in Athens it might as well be 1990. It just feels so comforting, our guard gets let down and we can be ourselves. We can try silly shit and try serious stuff he’ll always push us in the right direction.
Followed by a very pretty Jack, we then got to rock into Give!! First one since Brandon 2023 (excellent Modern era run), 53 shows ago. Definitely a classic smoker!
The spacey transition with a unique echoing beam-me-up sci-fi sound and some organ riffles gave some of us the notion of a Bears about to drop… but then we hear Jimmy’s signature guitar feedback and mechanical blender-esque guitar lick preparing us for a raging almost 12-minutes of Protein > Sewing (written by our beloved Vic Chestnut 11/12/64-12/25/09).
With Sewing concluded, we got another full stop, giving Chuck time to get back on the stage. After a little ditty from Dave we got a classic and polished Papa’s drop with definitive chicken skin according to our eye witness reporters. Again, hearing the dual keyboards was an interesting twist to the Panic sound. Perhaps the first “sandwich” of the weekend, according to some heads if “Drums” counts as being sandwich meat. However, the writers at WATLO HQ unanimously agree that Drums does not make a sandwich filling (aka “meat”), officially, according to us. Regardless of the contents of sandwiches and what makes musical meat meat, the crowd is undeniably treated to an absolute MEGA DRUMS. Duane is such an animal the way he can quadruple hit those drums. It was great having the young stud there to keep the ball rolling while the elder band members took a quick breather. Sunny, the oldest member, is such a stud that he didn’t need a break AND his bongos truly feared him. After a 14+ minute drums and a less than 3-minute ending to Papa’s we got a nice smooth and velvety drop into Me and the Devil Blues.
MATDB was originally released by Robert Johnson in 1938 (our second Robert Johnson cover of the weekend… see the night 1 recap). Chuck adds so much illustration and breadth on the keys. The sound is so heavy and so emotional. Pay close attention to Mr. John Bell’s guitar here - it’s very noteworthy and his playing isn’t talked up enough. So, here we are talking it up! Jimmy playing the blues hits so deep - his ability to not only shred but soulfully carry out these bluesy guitar riffs is incredible. Did anyone else notice JB changing the lyric about walking with the Devil from "side by side” to “stride for stride”? His improv and lyrical latitude are always a welcomed treat for those who choose to listen carefully. We also have an eye-witness report that there was a “Make-Your-Nippes-Hard Panic Moment” (trademark pending) at 1:42 with a JB vocal that will make you audibly grunt, in a good way.
After another full stop, Chuck dropped us right into Jessica! Many fans were expecting and calling some Allman Brother’s given that Chuck joined the Georgia-based Brothers in 1972 after the death of Duane Allman in a motorcycle accident (11/20/46-10/29/71). This was the third time the band has played this song (first two times - 12/29/15 and 10/1/22 - both with Chuck on keys). Mr. Herring & Mr. Leavell were trading smiles and knowing glances through this classic rock stalwart. Jimmy shredded this one so beautifully, again showcasing his ability to change tones so perfectly. We were so blessed! The luckiest ones indeed.
With the ending of an incredible bust out we got a chance to cheer, yell, and celebrate as we anticipated an encore. A Sunny vibraslap kicked us into “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" (often shortened to “Low Spark”), originally recorded in 1971 by Traffic. Excellent jam here, perhaps one of the best of the entire show. JB’s vocals were absolutely top notch. After 13.5 minutes we were treated to Schools dropping us straight into Chilly Water! Let’s fuckin’ go!
Chilly is always such a fun way to rev up the entire crowd and leave everyone wet and wanting so much more, an excellent way to end the perfect night. Really all seven of them played the hell out of this one and the organ / keys solo after the drums is amazing. It was such a blessing to have two piano men up there. Schools and Chuck played off each other so well, you can tell guests these days have been really energizing them. We also loved Dave’s creepy backup vocals “before I riiiiiiiiide.” To put a bow on it, we got to hear JB thank Edie and Chuck plus one last “alright” and night two was a wrap!