Widespread Panic’s Michael Houser sat center-stage through the band’s three-day, sold-out concert at Oak Mountain Amphitheater in Pelham, Ala., picking at his custom-made Fender Telecaster guitar from an old bar stool.
In the middle of mesmerizing nearly 14,000 fans Friday night, all lights dimmed, leaving Houser alone in the spotlight.
The next ten minutes would take Panic fans on more than an aisle-dancing trip. Instead of kicking jazzy, southern-fried blues/rock jams, Houser opts for a more somber mood.
Dancing delicately along the neck of his guitar, Michael Houser’s hands – able to recount over twenty years of magical memories with Widespread Panic – now symbolize the tragic reality of death.
Houser was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last month, causing the band to cancel a spring European tour.
It’s rumored that Oak Mountain is Houser’s last performance; the band is scheduled to play at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn., June 21-23 – provided Houser is able.
“I had never seen anything like it in my life, and I’ve been to over 25 shows,” first-year business major Aiden Shah said. “It was eerie because no one knows if [Houser] will ever be on stage alive again.”
Teary eyes and trembling bodies greeted Houser’s passionate ballad, “Vacation,” as he thanked and reassured fans of the many gifts in this world for which to be grateful.
“But you came along with a raft and a song / And I’m so glad you could make it,” Houser sang, “And with you by my side, I might get back alive / from my next vacation.”
Everyone prays for Houser’s safe recovery, but only time will tell what’s in store for the boys otherwise referred to, simply, as “Panic.”
A good measure of a band’s success and popularity occurs when you shorten its name and everybody knows who’s being discussed. Think “Zeppelin,” “The Stones,” or “The Dead.”
Jump ahead 25 years and think “Panic,” as in “Did you see the Panic show last weekend at Oak Mountain? Dude, it was awesome!”
“Panic” has become synonymous with an ever-changing setlist that consistently delivers a free-flowing creation of music that twists and turns, often streaming from one song to another. Sometimes they sing; sometimes it’s purely instrumental. Sometimes the song is original, sometimes a cover.
Widespread Panic (John “J.B.” Bell, vocals and guitar; Dave Schools, bass; Michael Houser, guitar; Todd Nance, drums; “Sonny” Ortiz, percussion; “JoJo Hermann, keyboards) may have sold about 18 million fewer albums than Britney Spears, but can fill an arena for more consecutive nights.
Versatile songwriting and first-rate musicianship enables Widespread Panic to flow from straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll to jazzy, melodic folk and a variety of other styles.
“You never know from what angle they’ll come at you,” junior communications major Philip Orwig said. “To label them a “jam-band” does absolutely no justice whatsoever.”
The unpredictability of the band’s stage show has helped develop one of music’s most successful tours.
Judging by the band’s faithful following since the early days in Athens, the boys from Georgia must be doing something right.
The only question is…for how much longer?
