04-10-2008, 09:52 AM
Last night I got to see an old favorite of mine -- Widespread Panic -- and didn't even have to leave town, which is a nice change. An added bonus was the fact that Galactic was the opener, and this was the first time I would get the chance to actually hear a whole live set of theirs.
I was impressed with Galactic; talented, great energy. Most everything I had heard from them before was instrumental; last night they had a vocalist who essentially rapped over the grooves on about half the numbers...which I thought detracted from all but a couple of those jams. Best thing about their set was a very fat, bottom-heavy rendition of Zep's "Immigrant Song", which was the second to last number. That was done without vocals, and the sax player covered the vocal lines with his instrument. Killer. Oh - and the drummer for that band kicks ass.....
Panic was great as usual. I hadn't seen them in several years, mostly because Mike Houser's death left a distict void in the band's cumulative songwriting. I wasn't incredibly keen on the style of his first replacement (George McConnell), either. But I will say that replacing McConnell with Jimmy Herring was a brilliant move. Dude can play.
They too did a cover tune that was custom-cut to my liking: Tom Waits' "Goin' Out West". The Galactic saxist and drummer joine Panic for that one, and it shredded....well, at least for the first 10 minutes or so....until it, like every other number Panic does, turned into an aimless four-hour-hippy-space-jam. :roll:
I was impressed with Galactic; talented, great energy. Most everything I had heard from them before was instrumental; last night they had a vocalist who essentially rapped over the grooves on about half the numbers...which I thought detracted from all but a couple of those jams. Best thing about their set was a very fat, bottom-heavy rendition of Zep's "Immigrant Song", which was the second to last number. That was done without vocals, and the sax player covered the vocal lines with his instrument. Killer. Oh - and the drummer for that band kicks ass.....
Panic was great as usual. I hadn't seen them in several years, mostly because Mike Houser's death left a distict void in the band's cumulative songwriting. I wasn't incredibly keen on the style of his first replacement (George McConnell), either. But I will say that replacing McConnell with Jimmy Herring was a brilliant move. Dude can play.
They too did a cover tune that was custom-cut to my liking: Tom Waits' "Goin' Out West". The Galactic saxist and drummer joine Panic for that one, and it shredded....well, at least for the first 10 minutes or so....until it, like every other number Panic does, turned into an aimless four-hour-hippy-space-jam. :roll: