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Milwaukee, WI - Combined Stats (10.23-10.25 2026)
Updated: 54 minutes ago
Widespread Panic showed up in Milwaukee, WI, the land of cheese curds and beer, for their 49th, 50th, and 51st performance at The Riverside Theater. This has become an annual fall pilgrimage for the best band in the land. The mayor, Tom Barrett, even named October 21st “Widespread Panic Day” in 2021. Here’s some more info about the theater taken from our detailed recap of Night 1 from 2025:
“Opened on April 29, 1928, this historic and beautiful theater sits 2,480 people. Local architects who designed the theater also designed the Palace Theater in NYC. The Pabst Theater Group bought it in 2005, and the theater underwent renovations. The new marquee and the vertical sign were added to the exterior between 2015 and 2016, which were reminiscent of the theater’s history.”
To celebrate the Milwaukee Brewers playing the first two World Series games at home and the band's 50th show at the Riverside, they hung a Brewers jersey with “HERRING” on the back with the number 50 over Nick’s amp for the duration of the run. Duane was sporting a Brewers jersey during night one, although there are claims that he was wearing a Braves shirt underneath.
This intimate historic theater is known for some Widespread heat fire, as the boys are known to throw it down with various bust-outs, FTP, and OTPs, as well as a shocking number of double encores during the Sunday show - including this year! Check out our Instagram post documenting these moments.
The WATLO correspondents were not in attendance, however thankfully we did have some boots on the ground reporting back and sending photos! Thanks to the friends and fans for making it feel like we were there!! Here’s the stat compilation for you to release your inner nerd. Expect full recaps after next weekend’s shows at UNO!
Here’s a statistical analysis of the run. We are grateful for permission from www.everydaycompanion.com to gather the data necessary to complete this analysis. This reads more like a technical manual, only proceed if you are ready to fully unleash your inner nerd…
Show Openers:
Night 1: Rebirtha (Go Brewers!!)
441st time ever played
11th time ever opening a show with Rebirtha
4 times with Mikey on lead guitar
2 times with George on lead guitar
4 times with Jimmy on lead guitar
1 time with Nick on lead guitar
Released on Bombs and Butterflies in 1997.
Night 2: Let’s Get The Show On The Road
141st time ever played
43rd time ever opening a show with LGTSOTR.
24 times with Mikey on lead guitar
1 time with George on lead guitar
16 times with Jimmy on lead guitar
2 times with Nick on lead guitar
First released by Michael Stanley Band on Friends & Legends in 1973. Released by Widespread Panic on Live in the Classic City in 2002.
Night 3: The Take Out
369th time ever played
78th time ever opening a show with TTO
50 times with Mikey on lead guitar
4 times with George on lead guitar
21 times with Jimmy on lead guitar
3 times with Nick on lead guitar
Released on Space Wrangler in 1988.
Set Two Openers:
Night 1: Impossible
462nd time ever played
30th time ever opening a second set with Impossible.
First time: 8/4/88 (Athens, GA)
Last time: 10/20/18 (Milwaukee, WI)
Released on Light Fuse Get Away (1998) and Miss Kitty’s Lounge (2022).
Night 2: Let’s Get Down To Business
204th time ever played
54th time ever opening a second set with LGDTB.
First time: 12/1/94 (Florence, AL)
Last time: 7/10/26 (Bend, OR)
brute. originally released this tune on Nine High A Pallet (1995).
Night 3: North
293rd time ever played
13th time ever opening a second set with North
First time 7/25/00 (New Haven, CT)
Last time 6/28/26 (Morrison, CO)
Jerry Joseph released this on The Welcome Hunters (1993). Panic released it on Dirty Side Down (2010).
Nick’s Firsts:
Night 1:
No firsts for NJ!
Night 2:
A of D: 277th time ever played
LTP: 10/26/25 (Milwaukee, WI), 49-show gap
FTP: 2/1/89 (Athens, GA)
Released on Miss Kitty’s Lounge in 2022.
Dear Mr. Fantasy: 188th time ever played
LTP: 5/17/25 (Charleston, SC), 70-show gap
FTP: 1985 [no known date for the first time, second time was on 2/24] (Athens, GA)
Released by Traffic on Mr. Fantasy in 1968.
Night 3:
Give: 236th time ever played
LTP: 6/28/25 (Morrison, CO), 66-show gap
FTP: 4/7/00 (Huntsville, AL)
Released on Don't Tell The Band in 2001.
Encores:
Night 1: Keep Me In Your Heart, Bowlegged Woman
11th time KMIYH was placed in the encore (13th time ever played)
84.6% of the time KMIYH is played, it’s in the encore.
43rd time Bowlegged was placed in the encore (249th time ever played)
Bowlegged has only been in the encore 17.3% of its total times played.
First and ONLY time Bowlegged ever followed KMIYH.
Night 2: We Walk Each Other Home, Dear Mr. Fantasy
8th time WWEOH was placed in the encore (32nd time ever played)
25% of all WWEOH’s are in the encore.
21st time Dear Mr. Fantasy was placed in the encore (188th time ever played)
11.2% of Dear Mr. Fantasy is played in the encore.
First time DMF has followed WWEOH.
Night 3: Nobody’s Loss > Climb To Safety
73rd time Nobody’s Loss was placed in the encore (153rd time ever played)
47.7% encore placement for NL!
62nd time CTS was placed in the encore (432nd time ever played)
14.4% encore placement for CTS.
Climb to Safety has followed Nobody's Loss four times, 3 times as this exact encore:
4/22/00
7/7/00
4/21/06
Noteworthy Moments:
LGTSOTR / LGDTB
Our very own CBA reached out the morning of 10/25/26 asking about the LGTSOTR and LGDTB combo as set openers the previous night (10/24). We did some digging… let’s review!
LGTSOTR kicked off set 1 and LGDTB kicked off set 2 three other times: 5/29/96 (Tulsa, OK), 3/20/15 (Oakland, CA), 6/24/18 (Morrison, CO).
LGDTB kicked off set 1 and LGTSOTR kicked off set 2 one time: 8/2/05 (Baltimore, MD).
Unique Instrumentals in Milwaukee
Despite an instrumental-less night on night 1 this year, night 2 had TWO instrumentals and night 3 had TWO instrumentals. Let’s focus on B of D and A of D….
A of D was on the shelf for quite a while. Played on 3/3/23 in Las Vegas, it was then shelved for 83 shows until 10/26/25 in Milwaukee, WI. Mysteriously, it hasn’t been played since, and saw a dust off on 10/24/26 during night 2, marking the first time Nick has played A of D.
B of D was not played at all in 2025 until 10/25/25 in Milwaukee, WI. It’s been played twice since then, which was Nick’s first and second time. First in Missoula, MT on 7/8/26 and then on 8/15/26 in Atlantic City. His third time playing B of D was night 3 of this year’s Milwaukee run (10/25/26), the same date of its only resurgence in 2025.
Is there a connection between these two beloved instrumentals finding their way in Milwaukee set lists? We may never know the truth.
Only sandwich of the run (besides GP > DB > GP) = Driving > Pilgrims > Driving on Night 3
Driving Song has preceded Pilgrims 18 total times (including 10/26/26). Driving Song immediately followed Pilgrims 8 total times (including 10/26/26), meaning there were 7 previous shows with this exact one-layered sandwich:
04/26/93
07/05/93
03/09/94
10/10/14
10/22/14
06/29/25
05/09/26
Driving Song was the second song to follow Pilgrims 5 previous times, meaning there was another layer of meat with Driving Song Bread:
01/28/93: Driving > Pilgrims > Happy Child > Driving
04/23/93: Driving > Pilgrims > ??? > Driving (who was there??! Ha!)
07/04/00: Driving > Pilgrims > Party At Your Mama’s House > Driving
04/10/16: Driving > Pilgrims > Airplane > Driving
03/28/15: Driving > Pilgrims > Drums > Driving
The other seven times:
9/14/92: Driving Song > Pilgrims > Happy Child > Strictly Volunteer Jam > Driving Song
5/19/93: Pilgrims followed a sandwich with Disco meat
8/1/95: Pilgrims followed a sandwich with LA meat
6/27/99: Pilgrims followed a sandwich with 5 layers of meat!!
Driving Song > Postcard, Happy Child > Postcard reprise > Ride Me High > Drums** > Driving Song
10/31/07: Pilgrims followed a sandwich with Time Is Free meat
3/19/14: Driving Song > Pilgrims > Porch Song > I'm Not Alone > Driving Song
11/2/14: Pilgrims followed a sandwich with 6 layers of meat!!
Driving Song* > Surprise Valley* > Jam* > Drums > Machine Gun > Blue Indian* > Surprise Valley* > Driving Song*
Schools mentioned Johnny Blue Skies twice! Likely this is in reference to the JBS show at UNO Tuesday 10/27, as many fans traveled down early to see JBS before WSP in New Orleans.
10/24/26: During Blight - transcribed by Jeremy Schreiber - thank you!!
(2:06): "Hey, Johnny Blue Skies, man, watcha gonna do now? Heyyyy..."
(3:50): "Gonna shine... in the blue skies... with the dark clouds. Gonna ride... Speak your mind... Tell it like it is... Let 'em know what your heart is singing' let 'em know what it is... What it is... Shine..."
10/25/26: During I'm So Glad
(4:56): "We're comin' to get you, Johnny Blue Skies. We're gonna meet you down where the streets have a lot of voodoo, and no dark clouds. We're comin' to get you, I'm comin' to get you, we're gonna get you. You, you got it, we're gonna love you up, we're gonna eat you up, we're gonna get you. Yeah, yeah!"
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