Widespread Panic @ Irving Plaza 11/19/08

I wanted to go, but I didn’t have a ticket. I also didn’t want to waste a lot of energy looking for a ticket. My intuition said “email Scott and I’ll get a ticket”. I emailed him as my one and only try, and sure enough, he had an extra. Yeah! We met at the venue at 7:30 and waited in line for the Will Call tickets. But, there was a problem and they said the tickets were mailed to Scott. There was no doubt, we were going in, we just had to get this resolved. I am very impressed with how relatively quick the resolution was. We had to go back outside and call Live Nation ticketing. They then made sure the tickets weren’t used and got them reissued under will call. Then, the box office girl went downstairs to get the tickets. There was even the wrinkle that there 2 Scott’s with the same last name going to the show. Still, we were in there by around 8:02pm, just when Bill Graham and I think his son were giving the Foundation speech. I just don’t see that happening with TicketMaster.

I was surprised to see they were selling tickets at the box office. Once upstairs, I saw it was oversold, very crowded. Bummer. Still, I got my spot and waited. They were scheduled to come on at 8:15, but it was closer to 8:30. In that time, it got too crowded, even though I was towards the back and I bailed on my spot, which was to the left of the soundboard but not under the balcony ceiling. The sound is terrible under the ceiling. I ended up finding a spot outside the door, where I could hear pretty well, see something, and have a little room to dance. I was enjoying it over there. Occasionally, I would go into the room for a bit, just inside the door, where it sounded even better and I could see a little better.

The 1st set was OK. I was disappointed, but I kept thinking it would get really great the 2nd set. There were a few better points, but they kept bringing it up a notch for a song and then immediately killing the vibe with a downer song right after. None of it was bad, but it also wasn’t that great, except for some of the more up songs. Then, it started turning and getting good. I think it was for the Henry Parsons > Green Onions > Henry Parsons, but I’m not 100% sure. All I remember was I was starting to get blown away by Jimmy at some point around that time. I was getting happy it was finally taking off. Then, it just died for the next song. I took a break. Pigeons and Ain’t Life Grand were better. I also by then found a space up front and it was way better being up there. The space I found wasn’t too crowded or I wouldn’t have been able to take it. I decided to hang out up there for setbreak.

I had a fun setbreak. The people were nice if not a little harsh in some cases. It was the vibe that was doing it to some of them, it was just too crowded and the music hadn’t hit amazing yet (except for that one part of the 1st set). They were doing their best to enjoy themselves and let things be, it was just hard.

It took a long time for them to start the 2nd set. By the time they did, I could only stay up there for a couple of songs due to the crowdedness. However, this was now the show we came to see! It got really good! The whole band seemed to be together on the greatness, but Jimmy and Dave Schools were blowing me away the whole set. The word that kept coming up to describe the set and Schools was “monster”. It was a monster badass set with a monster bass player and a jaw-dropping guitar player.

I had gone back to my spot just outside and inside the door, I was mainly inside. I had to go to the bathroom, but I couldn’t leave that music. I was willing to hold it til the end of the night if I had to. Then, I got a little spot to go. It was still good, but I could tear myself away for a moment. It was long enough to pee and get a drink. It was at a high level at my breaktime, but it went right back to the higher level right after that. It stayed that way til the end.

I noticed people were starting to leave. I was surprised because the show was too good. I guess they’d had enough of the crowd. I knew this meant I would soon be back up front, which I was. I had enough room and it was very nice up there. There was something extra special about seeing them up close on a small stage.

I got even closer up front towards the end of the monster 2nd set that was over 1.5 hours long. I guess it started at a little after 10:30 and went til 12:15ish. The whole thing ended at around 12:40.

If you think of the first set as the opening band, it was an incredible show! I’m so happy I got to be there.

Ah, here’s the info I was looking for:
11.19.08 The Filmore at Irving Plaza New York 8:00 EST
Set 1: (67 mins) (8:35pm) Heroes > Disco > Angels on High , Smokin Factory > Fixin to Die > Henry Parsons > Green Onions > Henry Parsons > Dark Day Program , Pigeons , Ain't Life Grand * (9:42pm)
Set 2: (95 mins) (10:32pm) Space Wrangler , North > Smokestack Lightning >jam > Protein Drink > Sewing Machine, Let's Get the Show on the Road > Airplane > Under Radar Jam > Papa's Home , Holden Oversoul > Conrad (00:07)
Encore: (00:17) Expiration Day , Pilgrims , Goin Out West (0038)