Story by Slade Rand
Photos by Jon Angel
Sept. 14, 2023
Panic and Wilmington seem to understand one another.
Wilmington prepares to welcome Widespread Panic for its third annual run of shows at the Riverfront Park venue this weekend. The summer tradition has grown tiny little legs and means something more each year to the NC faithful.
The band from Athens, GA has settled into the coastal town as a new home-away-from-home since helping open Live Oak Bank Pavilion in summer 2021.
Panic is six shows deep at the Wilmington venue that’s become an annual stop on its circuit alongside venues like Red Rocks or the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee. Locals have heard the tale time and time again of live musicians finding something special in Wilmington – it’s no secret to anyone who’s spent time there that the town loves its artists and knows how to show that love.
According to Beau Gunn, manager of Local Daily Media and longtime DJ at 98.3 The Penguin, Panic and Wilmington are a match from above.
“It’s a place they like,” as Gunn puts it. “It’s a place they know a lot of their fans reside, and I think those factors together make for a perfect storm of a rockin’ setlist.”
It comes down to the people.
There’s no coincidence in these two worlds coming together again a few years ago. Some key pairs of caring hands got involved to bring the band to Riverfront Park for the venue’s opening night.
“Once we were successful in getting the funding for Riverfront Park, myself and others lobbied the powers that be to make sure Panic was the band that kicked off a new era of live music in Wilmington,” Gunn said.
Gunn now promotes these Wilmington shows after helping establish the now growing bond between band, locals and venue crew.
Other stages in town, including Greenfield Lake and the former Soapbox, have long been the glue for much of what makes Wilmington special. Gunn said the town’s venues are places where “people make new friends, meet future spouses, get to share spiritual experiences through music, and so much more.”
For folks looking for some local lagniappe between Panic shows, Dubtown Cosmonauts plays a late-show Friday at Duck and Dive and a pre-party Saturday afternoon 1 – 4 p.m. at Katy’s Grill & Bar during Sticker Con.
“I believe live music has made Wilmington a better community to live in, because so many residents have had shared experiences together through live music,” Gunn said.
Widespread Panic’s relationship with the waterfront town enters its third year this week. That Wilmington magic just might have started to rub off on the band from Athens, GA.
Click here to view our gallery from Widespread Panic’s Sunday show at Red Rocks this summer.
Wilmington, NC and Widespread Panic share some philosophical leanings too.
Neither ignores its history.
In fact – both the folks at the helm of Widespread Panic and those stewarding Wilmington’s arts scene seem to believe in the powers of tradition and memory.
“I get the sense that the guys approach everything they do with intention, and while I don’t think that means they would study the local history of the area, I do think that they make an effort to connect with their local surroundings,” Gunn said.
The USS North Carolina sits less than a mile down the Cape Fear River from the stage at Live Oak Bank Pavilion, in its permanent home in Battlefield Park. Wilmington carries its wartime history, and kids grow up there with an understanding of their hometown’s identity as a home of blockade runners and naval strategy.
Commissioned in 1942, the USS North Carolina earned 15 battle stars and the nickname “Showboat.” It was there at Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Tokyo Bay. According to reports noted by Craig Stinson, the USS North Carolina could “look to be ablaze throughout” when its monstrous gunfire was let loose.
Local artist Tom Shaw designed the poster for the 2022 shows with a bouquet of flowers exploding from one of the warship’s barrels. He dubbed that one “Hope in a Hopeless World.”
Shaw roots his art in the beauty around him, and likes to add his own style to imagery reminiscent of his hometown. His art calls on memories made in special places in moments like sunrise and sunset, and the forms those memories can take on over the years.
“That ideology has always stuck with me; the idea of doing things differently. So I think there are subconscious things I do with my art to make it stand out,” Shaw told us this week.
His goals are to create a poster popular with fans but also for the prints to be ‘wall hangers,’ as opposed to portfolio stuffers. His design for the 2021 poster dubbed “Fishwater” centers on nearby Wrightsville Beach’s iconic boardwalk, of course under attack by tentacled sea monsters.
“Landmarks tend to resonate with local fans so I think it’s usually a safe bet to tie one into the location of the show,” Shaw said.
Panic has made sure to leave Wilmington heads with some musical landmarks as well these past two years.
On Saturday night in 2021, Widespread Panic delivered its first performance of the instrumental ‘‘Happy Child’ since the loss of guitarist and songwriter Michael Houser in August 2002.
These nods to a sometimes painful past happen sporadically throughout a year on the road, giving new, joyous meaning to music that could have otherwise faded into history.
On Sunday in 2022 the band crafted a special setlist for Mother’s Day in Wilmington, covering The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” and Funkadelic’s “Red Hot Mama.”
It’s a lifelong dance of blending reverence for the past that shaped the Panic community’s lives with the celebration of creating something new. And the band’s been busy.
Since getting back on the road in 2021 Panic debuted five new original songs and this year all but confirmed a fresh album on the way. It’d be the first since 2015’s “Street Dogs for Breakfast.” The five new tunes this year join “Sundown Betty” and “I Swear It Wasn’t Me,” released in 2020, as hopefuls for the incoming album.
This year alone, Panic played news songs “We Walk Each Other Home,” “Little by Little,” “Tacklebox Hero” and “King Baby” in front of audiences for the first time. It debuted “Halloween Face” in New Orleans in 2021.
This year, on the final night of the band’s annual weekend run at Red Rocks, the band paid what frontman John Bell called “mostly silent tribute” to promoter and friend Bill Bass who passed in January 2023. Crew members placed roses on the stage on Friday and set breaks featured photos of Bass. Panic broke its silence during the final encore with a debut cover of Warren Zevon’s “Keep Me in Your Heart,” which was played at Bass’s funeral.
Click here to view our gallery from Widespread Panic’s Sunday show at Red Rocks this summer.
Wilmington’s own Shaw created the digital banner for those shows, and included an image of Bass in the stars above Red Rocks in that design.
“The band wanted to commemorate their friend Bill Bass, who has promoted all 66 of Widespread Panic’s sold out shows at [Red Rocks] to date,” Shaw wrote on social media.
This weekend, Shaw will set up at “Satisfied at Satellite” alongside another two dozen artists from noon – 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Satellite bar. Artists will raffle a prize package benefiting local nonprofit The Good Shepherd Center.
“It should be a lot of fun,” Shaw said. “You might see a donation or two from us in that prize package.”
Gunn and 98.3 The Penguin also have some surprises for Panic fans in town this weekend.
Widespread Panic Radio will launch on The Penguin this Saturday – bringing 24 hours of nothing but the band to Wilmington airwaves. Live cuts, studio tracks and versions of songs Panic covers will be rolling all day as fans prepare for a second night at Live Oak Bank Pavilion.
“It will be a lot of fun and I hope the fans will tune in and that it will make their stay a little more enjoyable,” Gunn said.
Tickets for Widespread Panic’s shows this weekend are available via LiveNation. The band’s Fall run takes Panic to Milwaukee next before a Halloween celebration in Savannah, GA. See tour dates here on Widespread Panic’s website.
After Party: The Dubtown Cosmonauts are slated to play Friday Sept 15 at Duck and Dive as well as a pre-party Saturday afternoon 1-4pm at Katy’s Grill & Bar.
Click here to view our gallery from Widespread Panic’s Sunday show at Red Rocks this summer.
We would like to dedicate this piece to Devon Buckley, who passed away in August of 2023. Devon was an IATSE Local 491, member of the rigging department at Live Oak Bank Pavilion, and friend to many in the Wilmington region.
Devon helped produce many shows in the Port City behind the scenes while pushing local bands forward and lending a helping hand anywhere it was needed. His light shines on through the community and the side of live events the public rarely sees.
We talked with Justin Heter, Devon’s roommate, friend, and local Dubtown Cosmonauts Drummer. He shared this statement about Devon…
” Devon Buckley aka “The Dude” was a very close friend of mine. We worked stages together as stagehands at Greenfield Lake Amp, The Wilson Center and Live Oak Pavilion. we had a brotherly bond. He moved in and my band room was below his room so he could hear me practicing music and working on new originals and cover songs. He heard me learning his favorite song, “Weight of Sound” by Stick Figure and came down and sat in the band room and just listened. He was always positive and encouraging, which helped me get better at the tunes. I put those three lyrics in the song as a tribute to him. The song “Something We Can Dance To” will be out on Spotify and other worldwide streaming platforms in a few weeks. Keep a lookout for it!
After Midnight 
Leave a comment