Trying to define "The Moment" with two days of Widespread Panic

Intro
I want to write about reliving the irresponsible days of my youth while traveling on the road having the best time of my life because it sounds romantic and exciting.  In reality, I am living the best time of my life right now; furthermore, the story of my youth is not that of a hardcore free-spirited road warrior.  While by the time I was almost 19, you might say I had too much too fast, I was given a second chance at life.  Once I got comfortable with my second phase of life, I was able  get back into  my passion for live shows and getting on the road to see them. I felt alive and comfortable in the live music scene. When I was younger the scene revolved around the Grateful Dead.  I would take long weekends from work and go see two or three shows in towns such as Oakland, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Buffalo, DC and Hamilton to name a few.  In every town, there were familiar faces and I was one of them.  We were all there for our own purposes and we were all insiders but at the same time we were all checking each other out.  My dirty little secret...I was just a regular guy in my early 20s.  At work the secret was that I was into this dirty dead-head lifestyle and when I was on the road the secret was that I was an ambitious, competitive and driven professional.

At shows I was chasing what I will call "The Moment".  For me "The Moment"was not about how I could save the planet or get messed up enough to actually see that dragon with matches that Jerry Garcia sang about. "The Moment" for me was a musical high point.  This is the moment that is built up between the audience and the band.  I have heard the Grateful Dead talk of it in terms of an exchange of energy.  Sometimes, you can feel it coming before the show.  The crowd is ready for something special and gets the band going. The band reacts with something special and it goes back and forth until you get to "The Moment".  Although the band is all in line during this moment, it doesn't mean that they are playing tight nor is it sloppy.  It is at that moment that the audience becomes possessed.  People are screaming, jaws are dropping and yes, I have even cried (kind of cheesy!).

Rebirth-
Fast forward 15-20 years.  I am a happily married father of 4 living in the suburbs.  I have no dirty secrets and no apologies.  I still love "The Moment" and pursue it with the same passion. The Grateful Dead is gone and now I have bands like The Levon Helm Band, Govt Mule, Furthur, The Warren Haynes Band, Tedeschi Trucks, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and WideSpread Panic.

WS(MF)P!!!
I first got turned on to Widespread Panic (WSP) in October of '92.  My brother, Greg, and I went to see them at The Riviera . They were the opening act for Blues Traveler who we didn't really have an interest in. We wanted to see this Jam Band from Athens (the term Jam Band really hadn't been used much at that time) after reading a newspaper article about them.  They were fantastic. Their music was both familiar in style and unfamiliar in content.  As time went on I went to see them a few more times and then Jerry Garcia died.  While it may sound weird to talk about the death of Jerry Garcia while writing about WSP but, it is significant. Jerry Garcia's death brought the Jam Band scene to life. 

Fast forward to 1999. In '99, Greg flew in from NYC to see The Funky Meters with me at the UIC Pavilion but when he did, The Funky Meters were the opening act for WSP.  This is the same band that was an opening act at The Riviera (capacity 2300)  and now they are headlining The UIC Pavilion  (capacity about 11,000) 7 years later.  Bands like WSP were filling the void that was left when Jerry died. For the hardcore "spreadheads" (term used to speak of followers of WSP) out there, this is not to say that WSP has no merit on their own.  This is about taking lemons and making lemonade....and some fantastic lemonade at that!!!!

Fast forward to 2011.  This weekend, I caught WSP at The Chicago Theatre Friday and Saturday.   They are an exciting show for me because their tunes are still unfamiliar even after seeing them about 15 times.  They have a distinctive sound with the raspy voice of John "JB" Bell at the helm.  They have one of the best rhythm sections in modern Rock and Roll lead by Dave Schools on Bass. While Schools is solid on the basics that create the pulse of this band, he lays down some of the funkiest bass beats I have heard.   He moves the band from dark heavy metal and muddy blues on to  trips to the 70s with dance beats that John Travolta would be thrilled to gyrate to.   Schools is far from being retro, his bass work would not be out of place at a rave today. On kit drums is Todd Nance who is rock solid but the complex percussion work goes to Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz.  You can see Sunny playing conga with his right hand while playing steel drum with his left, I am guessing his only wish would be to have been born with more limbs. On lead guitar is Jam Band regular Jimmy Herring.  Jimmy has been around this scene forever playing with bands like The Other Ones, The Dead and The Allman Brothers Band and he is right at home with WSP.  Jimmy replaces original lead guitar player and founding member Michael Houser who passed away from cancer in 2002. Rounding it off is John "Jo Jo" Herman on Keyboards and Vocals.  Jo Jo adds some fun New Orleans flair to the band (even thought he is from New York.)  The influence of  New Orleans legend Professor Longhair and The Band's organ player Garth Hudson can be heard in Jo Jo.  His music adds the fun playful element that rounds WSP off.

WSP gave me "The Moment" many times over the last two nights. First set of the first night rocked hard, while they played the familiar Walking, part of the excitement for me was the lack of familiarity of the whole set.  I am not able to anticipate this band's every move so they just lead me around by the figurative leash while I submitted to their musical whims. For me it was really Dave Schools that I got caught up in.  He laid down the tracks that Jimmy would color.  When you really listen, it is Schools that was getting the audience moving to Jimmy's jams.  Second set was even better with an incredible tune called Stop and Go.  Stop and Go is spacey, funky with a flavor that is very close to The Grateful Dead's Fire On The Mountain.  After some great jamming, in out of various tunes, Jimmy led us  into the JJ Cale classic Ride Me High.  This is sung by Jo Jo with tons of audience interaction which is always fun but more importantly, it brings on "The Moment".   Schools, Jimmy and Jo Jo all got a piece of this moment. They encored night one with the folk classic Baby Let Me Follow You Down (popularized by Bob Dylan), Baby, Please Don't Go (recorded by many and popularized by Alvin Lee and AC/DC) and WSP's own Makes Sense to Me. 

Night two gave me an extra experience.  Due to a number of friends' change of plans, I went to the show solo and really enjoyed it....only my own agenda and total anonymity.  Tonight it seems that back stage the band may may have said something to the extent of  ' we are in Chicago, let's do some blues'.  This first set was full of muddy and sometimes dark sounding blues opening up with JB at his deepest and raspiest for Going Out West.  Jo Jo sang the American classic Stagger Lee as arranged by Professor Long Hair.  They got out of the blues and mixed in a funky tune that I liked called Little Lilly.  First set was good but second set blew my mind.  It was like they stacked up so many of those incredible moments that it was one big intense high point that lasted for 83 minutes. In a set built of many high points, I was particularly impressed by Greta which is another fun tune by Jo Jo into the hard rocking Fishwater.  They jammed through to my highpoint of the weekend, Arleen. This is probably my favorite song by WSP.  It is hard rock, reggae, funk and loads of fun!  At WSP shows, you almost never see anyone sitting in their seats but for this Arleen, there wasn't a person that wasn't shaking from their heads down to their toes.  It was so intense and lively, every time I  heard  the lines "I CANT STAND IT! NO!!" It became a very personal and meaningful experience.  This was "The Moment" of moments.   They brought it back to Fishwater and left us begging for more.   Quadruple Encore was the Doors' Peace Frog into;Blue Sunday and then End of the Show (by Bloodkin) and lastly they ended the weekend with the song and message Ain't Life Grand?  This was a poetic way end to an incredible weekend of music. 

There is no longer any conflict. I am a suburban dad that loves music.  I got turned on to the good stuff as a kid and am able to know it when I hear it as an adult.  This isn't for everyone but for me, I can't picture my life without chasing "The Moment"