Jackson, WY (7/5/2026)

Listen to the entire show on Nugs or Relisten or Archive.org.

Data mined and explored via Everyday Companion.

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“It’s only real if you believe.”

Two thousand Widespread Panic fans had a reason to believe it was real, as we all boarded a gondola to attend a show. We can’t think of another venue where this has been the case. The most deadicated fans got in line around 10 AM to secure their rail spot, and the vibes were much more mellow than Red Rocks. Although tickets were difficult to come by, everyone we knew that made the trip got in! 

A five-minute walk from the line, in the heart of Jackson, WY, we hosted the very first Lucky Ones Shakedown event. It was located at The Bunker Pub & Eatery. The event had a great turnout of both vendors and attendees. Everyone was in such a good mood and so excited for the show! Most people we talked to had never seen them on top of the mountain before. According to Everyday Companion, our trusted source of information, the band has only played at the Snow King Amphitheatre three times: 6/28/05, 7/19/06, and 7/5/26. Based on what we could tell pre-show, there was a decent mix of locals who were more casual fans there for a concert and die-hard Panic fans who traveled far and wide across the country to see a show. The wide variety of license plates we saw at the free lot indicated a high level of spreadication to travel so far for a one-night stand. 

While in line, mere minutes before doors, we eye-witnessed southern guitar rock royalty Duane Betts load into the gondola to get whisked up the mountain before any frothing fans were able to board. The staff were super friendly and kind as we went through the three check-points at the base of the ganjola. This particular people mover climbs exactly 1570 feet and is a 12 minute ride from loading to unloading.  First we encountered the ticket checker, it was really nice that the ticket scanner believed our tickets were real and not just a gas station receipt. Next up: the bag search, which was really unbelievable because they barely searched our bags and let us bring in full personal water bottles of chilly well water. Chilly Water gets us wet (huge shoutout to whoever made that sticker) Spoiler alert: after a dry Red Rocks run the weekend before, this would also be a Chilly-less affair atop the mountain. Finally, we got our turn to ride the gondola, where the excitement came to a fever pitch as fans were counted off in groups of 8 to load into the suspended marvels of modern engineering.

Once we boarded the lift, tensions eased as we enjoyed a scenic ascent up the mountain that took about 11 minutes. The hikers seen from above looked very hearty and fitter than your average WSP fan, they likely lived in The Hole. From our ride up to the top of the World, we saw lots of wildflowers, trees and green, fine grass. We chatted to our co-passengers about what they wanted to hear. We had reason to believe Ain’t Life Grand would be part of this show, possibly as the opener, since it wasn't included in the recently wrapped Red Rocks run. The other folks on our cable car didn’t seem as keen on ALG, specifically wishing they didn’t close with it. Spoiler alert: they closed with it. You can't always not get what you don’t want it. The Tetons were as grand and bosomlike as can be, and we floored our dropped jaws  as we exited the car and secured an epic spot in front of JB along with a sick foil poster. 

The Nugs recording does not contain the highly informative speeches, which began at 7:28 pm, the orators pontificated at length about where the bathrooms were and how to fill your empty water bottles. There were two guest speakers and what they said was highly forgettable. We do not recall their names. Based on what we heard, the only useful information was how to survive getting struck by lightning twice, everything else could have been found on this new thing called the internet. They did take time to run down the entire list of performers booked to play at the venue and told us to text our friends at home and tell them to get a free Nugs (™) trial and stream the show. We declined to follow any of their instructions and merely wished for the show to go on. Not even Old Joe was struck by lightning at the mountaintop, the weather was surprisingly hot and all the Everest approved cold weather gear we had at the ready stayed in our bookbags for the entire performance and post-performance gondola line. Many folks wore shorts and sandals, alarming at first but it turned out to be a good call. 

Finally, at 7:45 pm the band took the stage, a whopping 45 minutes after the listed show time. The merch line had swollen to hundreds of retail hungry heads and then shrunk down to just a few. We heard a rumor that they delayed the start time to make sure everyone had ample time to shop at the merch stand calmly. Since we’ve been writing recaps, this was the largest gap between printed start time and actual show time. JB greeted the crowd with a backwards cap and sunnies on. JB: “Hey, everybody! Thank you for ascending with us up here.”

Dave started us all off with the familiar bassline to Little Lily. All six studs actually had sunglasses on to protect their eyes from the UV rays, made extra dangerous by the lessened atmosphere at our 7,808 foot elevation above sea level. Most of the crowd also had on brimmed hats and cool shades that made them look hip, but not as bitchin’ as the band. Despite the warnings of low temps, many fans also had backpacks full of outerwear, yet it was hot, hot, hot in the summer time. According to our knowledge, this song used to be called “First Snow”. This was appropriate for the Snow King Mountaintop and the recent memories of box office ticket purchasers who endured late spring flurry in the pre-dawn dark while lining up for tickets that were eventually selling on the resale market for up to 1500$. Death to scalpers. This was the 15th time the band kicked off a show with LL, most recently in Asheville last summer when they did a three little pigs themed run. The view and surroundings were stunning and so surreal. The combination of the breathtaking vistas and the number of fans who showed up without tickets but seemed to get in just fine reminded us of how important it is to simply believe. JB was feeling it, adding extra umph from the very first song. The backwards hat seemed to be working so far.

A sideways carrot orchestrated by the entire band led into song number two, Send Your Mind, written by Van Morrison. Anyone who was at the Fourth of July show at the Spud Drive-In Movie Theater in 2010 had to remember when they opened that show with this song. That summer day and all night free-for-all post show lot party in a field in 2010 is not something the conservative residents of Drigg, ID will ever forget either. Definitely not getting invited back there, the local jail is’nt nearly big enough. We’re not sure if this was a nod to that setlist? Regardless, this was an amazing warmup and tone-setter for a rockin’ first set. JB asked us to send him “a little money, kisses too” so of course, we blew him lots of kisses. 

Zoel came on stage and smoothly facilitated a guitar change for our favorite front man. JB strapped on his black and shiny shiny guitar, and we immediately guessed Ribs. The young southern boys in front of us whole-heartedly agreed that Ribs was on the way. It seemed like too joyous of an occasion at that moment for a Vic Chesnutt song of darkness. This was such a crowd pleaser. Even the normie local fans were seen boot stompin’ and hollerin'. Between Duane’s drumming, JB’s slide guitar, and Jojo’s piano, the dance party was undeniable. Around 5-minutes in, JB got turnt up and started melting faces with his slide guitar, showing Nick a thing or two about the rock n’ roll business. Something about this version hit us just right. Listening back in the mobile headquarters, we realized this was perhaps a highlight of the entire show for us, not only the first set. JB was so nimble on his slide guitar, it seemed like he fired everyone else up to fully send it. The ribs were extra saucy, wetnaps required. 

JB went back to the wood-grained hollow bodied Washburn guitar, and made us wonder where his guitar went that’s painted cherry red. Now that it’s gone, We Can’t Get High. A Bloodkin cover, first played on 7/9/93, this was the 374th live version, and Nick’s second. You’d never guess it though, his tone was spot on. The notes coming out of his guitar were so defined and precise. Guitar licks like that made us wonder if Nick’s fingers will one day be displayed in the Smithsonian Museum. 

Another major hit kicked off by Jojo, another common number reserved for this setlist after being omitted from Red Rocks, Tall Boy. In fact, no song performed this evening made an appearance at The Mecca in Morrison. While everyone was very much missing Jimmy, many people we talked to that day mentioned this was their first time seeing Nick, and they were very impressed. The Big Man on Bass Mountain was smiling and having fun, and released an epic “wooo” as well as some added back-up vocals at 3:36. Jojo switched to his organ and transformed into a Tall Jojo (aka, he stood up) which inspired an unexpected jam we named The Gondola Jam. It was so epic and ascended at LEAST 1570 vertical feet. This was another highlight of the night, with two show highlights in the first set, we knew we were witnessing an incredibly special Sunday show. The only Sunday show of summer tour was proving to be unmissable. 

They slowed it down to let us all catch our breath and tickled the truth of our heartstrings with another classic, I’m Not Alone. JB demonstrated his ability to use his voice as a very precise instrument. We all know he can range from a meaty whisky growl to an angelic harmony. For this song, he chose a delightful harmonic liquid golden butter honey nectar approach. Nick’s solo was reminiscent of his hero and mentor, Jimmy Herring. Based on what we understand about Nick, he’s such a humble and hard working young man. We are the lucky ones to have him filling in! 

Next up was Walkin’ (for your love). At 877 total times played, it’s walking slowly but surely to the 1,000-club. Will JB and the boys walk into the sunset before this song is batting a thousand? Stay tuned to find out! Never miss a Panic show on a day that ends in “Y.”

They closed the first set with a tried and true classic, Space Wrangler. Another WSP stalwart that was left hanging after a Wrangler-free Red Rocks. Shout out to our dancing neighbor, Scotty, who was sporting the Space Wrangler lot tee and shared his story about his sailboat named Space Wrangler. At almost 8,000 feet, that’s the closest to space we’ll ever witness Widespread Panic perform live. Sunny’s instrumentation is something that makes this band so unique and special. Celebrating a birthday the day before, he was front and center this entire show. His vibraslap and shakers added so much texture. Go Sunny! Happiest 74th birthday to you!! At 7:22, Nick revved it up, launching the band out of the Stratosphere. 

JB said, “We’ll be right back.” Little did we know, what JB really meant was that they would take a shockingly long 49-minute set break. Typically their set breaks have been running around 34-36 minutes. We had plenty of time to run set break errands, take in the vistas of the setting sun, get lots of family photos, and fend off bargers from our Rumpl blanket. 

After the crowd was patiently for waiting almost an hour, the men took up their preferred instruments, and they kicked off set number two with For What It’s Worth. Even though this was only their 41st time performing it, FWIW was their first song ever played as an officially licensed band. Later that evening, as our gondola car descended towards the glowing city lights of Jackson Hole, a fellow passenger mentioned this song as his show highlight. It was the first time this song had ever been performed in the state of Wyoming. It’s no wonder why local fans were so enamored by it. Dave’s vocals were magic to our ears, obviously feeling a lot of emotions towards the meaning behind this song. His “ooohs” made this song iconic, so angelic and perfect it sounded as if he was using an effect. But, he wasn’t. Schools was eliciting pure raw emotion and delivering a stellar performance. 

The band ripped right into King Baby with nary a micropause. According to our math, when making the Summer Co-pilot, this was their second-most played song, based on the EdC stat L100 (number of times played out of the last 100 shows). Find us in Missoula at the Lucky Ones Shakedown event on July 8th to pick up a hard copy and take an insert into the show. At 4:44, Dave dropped into one of the sickest basslines he wrote for their newest album, reaching brown note status. 

The slickest and smoothest segues of the night happened next, and Sleeping Man came out of nowhere. Big Sideways Carrot Energy. This version was the 250th time played. What were the chances that we celebrated SM turning a quarter of a century old only a day after celebrating our country turning the same age. USA! USA! USA! The King Baby from the song before bassline got Schools into a ferocious attack mode. He fully flexed all his might during Sleeping Man. Jojo had a sick organ breakdown during the jam that got the whole band frothing. This was the selected Vic Chesnutt cover of the evening, and we were amping. Dave added an R-rated “When you think you’re alone. Fuck that!” and a “Sure as shit watching you!” Nick was searing. Faces were melted. Unsuspecting J-holers definitely lost some flesh off their faces that night. As the sky turned dark, and stars became visible, the scene got un-family friendly quickly. This was a top quality A-grade Sleeping Man. God Bless Wyoming.

Marshall, one of our favorite young fans to see Panic with, came in from Savannah, GA with his girlfriend, and she enjoyed her third Panic show. He called Driving Song quickly and swiftly. Way to go, son! We love you BIG! We were among many Panic fans who knew it was time to move our life again, as the following day a huge swath of Spreadheads were making their way to Missoula for the next leg of the tour. Driving Song is often used as bread for a sandwich, and on this fateful evening, the meat was Rebritha.

Let’s talk about Driving Song used as sandwich bread. Rebirtha has only followed DS 11 total times in the band’s history. A Driving Song > Rebirtha > Driving Song one-meat sandwich has only happened five total times: 10/2/94, 10/30/96, 10/20/06, 5/4/10, and 7/5/26. Here are the most common songs to follow Driving:

• Disco: 108

• Breathing Slow: 87

• Bo of D: 44

• A of D: 40

• Love Tractor: 35

• Papa’s Home: 31

Clearly stoked about the location of this venue, JB replaced the word “face” with “place” each verse: “Seen your place before, seen this place before, seen your place before”. It had been almost 20 years since they'd seen this place before. Perhaps it felt like a past life for the four members on stage who were there 20 years ago. It was an entirely different band up on Snow King Mountain. Last time, George McConnell was on lead guitar and Todd Nance was behind the kit. It was a powerful version of the song with a very pronounced and somewhat spacey drawn out finish to segue back into Driving Song. 

Duane immediately kicked off Last Straw, Nick’s second time performing the song in the big leagues. They’re trending upwards of nailing this complicated song. We felt like it was a vast improvement from the last version south of the border in Playa. It was very short, but very enjoyable. 

Mr. Trucks kicked off a drumbeat while a second Duane joined the bandmembers. Once he got plugged in, they began Mountain Jam, which had the biggest LTP gap of the entire show. Last played on July 25, 2022, they waited 140 shows before performing the 11th one in Panic history. Duane Betts has sat in with the Randall Bramblet Band from time-to-time, so he and Nick have shared the stage many times before. From our dancing space, they seemed very familiar with each other, and appeared to motivate each other to reach high levels of guitar ascension. However, this was Mr. Betts first time sitting in with Widespread Panic. Born in Sarasota, FL, he is the son of Dickey Betts, named after Duane Allman. He sat in as a guest with the Allman Brothers Band in 1994 at age 16. He’s about to kick off his own tour, starting in Jackson, WY on July 13, which could explain why he was in town! He’s promoting his new album, Isle of Hope. 

This was the only instrumental performance of the evening, and the longest song (by far!), clocking in at over 20 minutes. Duane B. ripped into the first solo and absolutely destroyed it. His tone was so different, he really showcased that classic Allman Brothers sound, a tone that was more bluesy, and knocked our dusty socks off. Jojo had a turn on the organ, demonstrating his might at altitude. Go Jojo, go!!  He switched over to the keyboard and tickled his (plastic) ivories before the band created space for Nick Johnson to have a go. Holy wow - he played all the notes and demonstrated why he was the best candidate to take over for Jimmy while he’s healing. We are so blessed to have him as part of the family. It truly was a spectacular mountain jam, light, airy, fun, and so danceable. We had an absolute blast smiling from ear-to-ear, looking other fans in the eye, and dancing wildly. Nick and Duane seemed very comfortable together. Having another guitarist on stage brought something out in Nick. Once everyone was done soloing, they all ripped into a cohesive jam that was energetic and it was obvious everyone on stage was having just as much fun as we were in the audience. We heard a little Third Rock From The Sun jam. Then, the rhythm section started a One Kind Favor jam. Around 18:55, they all seemed to be playing the unmistakable composition of Jessica, or at least riffing on the Jessica lick as part of the jam on top of the mountain. So much music, so much curiosity about what they were up to next, we thoroughly enjoyed every single one of the 1,300 seconds of this song. 

Towards the end of the jam, Schools started tapping his head, perhaps signing to the rest of the band that he was ready to go into the next song. DAS kicked off the bassline fans positively lust after, Bowlegged Woman. A Bobby Rush cover, we were dropping it low. Schools earned MVP this set, and shined with all his bass-y might. JB’s vocals were sexy and sultry, sticking to the widely known lyrics, not too much adlibbing going on. Even his mid-song “rap” stuck true to the song lyrics. Duane Betts took a solo around the 3:50 mark, it was bluesy and soulful. JB said, “Mr. Duane Betts, everybody!” and then Schools blew us a kiss, enunciating, “Muahhh!” 

They took three minutes to recombobulate and then get back on the stage. It was after the curfew we expected at this venue. We heard a rumor from a fan that they paid to extend the curfew because of the late start and extra meaty setbreak. But we may never know the truth about how they were able to play so late into the night atop a mountain. 

Before coming out for the encore, JB threw on another layer while in the basic little shed structure off on the side of the stage, completing his trademark and iconic two-collared look. He said, “Duane Betts, everybody!” again, just in case you didn’t hear him a few minutes prior. The first of two encore songs took the cake as the rarest song played, and the second time ever performed in Widespread Panic history. Russ, one of the co-founders of Home Team FM, talked about the first time they played it at Auggie when we hosted a podcast about OTP (only time played) favorites. Now that it’s been played a second time, we may need to re-interview him! The vast majority of those in attendance had never seen it done before. JB glowed, the way the lights hit his recently adorned white flanely button down long sleeved collared shirt was stunning. The total absence of screens or advanced infrastructure along with a super tiny stage created an essence of pure simplicity and perfection in this venue that’s hard to describe with words. Stars shimmered across the massive sky and we danced arm-in-arm in complete awe. The lyrics were absolutely perfect to describe the feeling we all had, being at the top of the mountain felt like being at the top of the world. In the context of some silly joke, JB was foreshadowing what the descent was going to be like. With the incredibly long GA gondola lines exiting the venue, there were a few moments where it felt like we may not be able to ever come down. Nick’s tone was so beautiful and elegant, almost reminiscent of a violin rather than an electric guitar, serenading us. 

Upon finishing, they played the song we were all waiting for, Ain’t Life Grand. Omitted from Red Rocks for the first time since 2011, the year they subsequently opened with ALG at Grand Targhee in Alta, Wyoming. Whether this was planned, or just pure Panic magic, we love this trend of skipping ALG on the Rocks and waiting to make those blues run in the Equality State (AKA the Cowboy State) every 15 years. We threw it down HARD with our buddies and completely emptied the tank. This version was high energy and a perfect way to end the evening atop Snow King Mountain. JB said his goodbyes, “Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Duane, thank you all to Duane. See ya everybody, good luck down the mountain.” Then, Dave blew us ANOTHER kiss, with an audible, “Muuuah!” 

Everyone took their time getting to the gondola. We waited about 20 minutes in the VIP line only to arrive at the front of that line and find out we needed to be in the GA line instead, which was only about a mile long. After approximately 90 joy filled minutes, we took our gondola car down the mountain, and with the dark sky it felt like we were flying through the night descending back to Jackson. Despite the immense amount of waiting everyone was in high spirits. Unsurprisingly, we were ridin’ nerdy in our aerial tramcar and chatted to our fellow lifted passengers about favorite moments, LTPs, and various other statistics we were drumming up. 

Tom Petty would have been proud of the boys tonight, looking down from his room at the very very tippity top. Whether folks were heading back to their unfathomably expensive penthouse suites in the illustrious and world-class town of Jackson, or ground level of the $500 a night Motel 8, these lyrics were especially poignant. 

“I got a room at the top of the world tonight; I can see everything tonight

I got a room where everyone can have a drink and forget those things

that went wrong in their life”

Wow. This entire experience was yet another reminder that we fans are the luckiest ones and there is a sublime energy that exists within these experiences. Time to ride on to another city as summer tour was just getting started! A six-hour drive away from Missoula, MT - the next tour stop! See ya’ll at the Kettle House Amphitheater.

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