Friday, October 29, 1999
CONCERT REVIEW
Widespread Panic's not quite the Dead yet
BY CHRIS VARIAS
Enquirer contributor
Widespread Panic's new album, 'Til the Medicine Takes, is said to be the point where the group becomes songsmiths, fighting its jam-band instincts. They might have put up a good showing in the studio, but Wednesday night at the Taft Theatre, Widespread's endless jam remained the same.
In a 21/2-hour show made of two hour-plus sets and an encore, the sextet put on a performance true to the style, if not so much the substance, of the Grateful Dead.
It's good that Widespread was smart enough to address songwriting — its biggest weakness — on the new album. After all, many of the Dead's great 20-minute live jams took life as great three-minute records.
But judging by the Taft show, Widespread has a long way to go. The words were a forced blend of false blues philosophy and cheesy psychedelia. The music is about as generic and unlyrical as a jam band could hope to get away with — all rhythm, lots of high-school rock-band guitar solos, and a few memorable riffs. It sounded like a drawn-out version of post-Lowell George Little Feat or something equally bland.
It didn't help that singer and guitarist John Bell has one of those raspy, white-man-singin'-the-blues voices that would have nicely suited a hair-metal band a decade ago.
Michael Houser, the band's other singer-guitarist, was a much better player and handled most of the leads while sitting in a chair for the entire show. He was also the better singer, but he didn't sing enough songs. His understated “Airplane” was a highlight.
The crowd, a near sellout, acted like the entire show was a big highlight. Little things like words and music are inconsequential to the tribal masses as long as the boogie beat is ever-present.
People were on their feet and dancing for the entire show, except for a gratuitous percussion solo in the second set by drummer Todd Nance and conga player Domingo S. Ortiz during which some fans took their seats.
The first set was stronger, and not just because it was drum-solo free.
It began with the instrumental “Galleon,” which dissolved into an improvisational bit before reforming into “War's "Low Rider,'” a nice cover choice for a band with a conga player.
Other decent tunes were “Sleeping Man,” sung by bassist Dave Schools, and “Christmas Katie.”
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