Missoula N1 (7/7/2026)

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

Data mined and explored via Everyday Companion.

Photo Gallery

“Find out just how tall I am, by standing in the middle of the river.”

For the first time in history, Widespread Panic played at the Kettlehouse Amphitheater. This was the 24th time they played in Big Sky Country, but it hadn’t been since 7/9/13 that they graced The Treasure State with their presence. Completed in 2017, this 4,000-person riverside outdoor amphitheater had four ticket options: pit, seating, box seats, and a GA lawn. The venue was very well staffed and they were quite helpful. There were several staff stationed at each waste disposal area, helping you sort your waste into composting and recycling, trash cans were hard to come by. They were highly adept at micromanaging fan’s behavior in the venue. The following rules applied: no running, no outside food (be sure to keister your protein bars), no distribution of flyers, and no jaywalking in front of the venue. Oddly enough, they didn’t seem to care if we rage danced in the aisle between the box seating, which was our main hack during this run. We could easily adhere to these guidelines. 

Temperatures reached the high 80’s, but with the altitude it easily felt like the 90’s. Fans who prefer a rail spot and who desired a Jeff Wood foil poster lined up around 9 AM. The WATLO street team lined up around 6:07 pm for a 6:30 pm entry time. We easily procured a poster, but not a foil, and a highly coveted flat spot on the lawn at the very back of the venue along the fence. The rest of the lawn was dangerously steep, a difficult topography for rage dancing. A Tuesday-Wednesday run has been rare for the band, and we couldn’t remember a time in recent Panic history when they had only one day off between the last show in a different state. It felt like summer tour had officially begun with mid-week shows and lots of miles in between each tour stop. 

Despite the weeknight shows, every ticket was sold. From where we started the show at the back of the venue, there were a lot of Montana live music fans excited to see Widespread Panic for the first time. Those who were familiar with WSMFP definitely had never seen Nick Johnson before, and were looking forward to what this new band member would bring. At 8:16 pm the band took the stage, and JB greeted the crowd with a simple, “Hello, everybody!” Being located so north and west, the sun was still shining brightly over the mountain landscape as they started up Pleas. First played on 1/22/88, this was the perfect crowd pleas-er to kick off the two-night run. In the 590th version, JB’s lyrics came through clearly and the band sounded well-balanced and rounded out. It was incredibly quiet in the back of the venue, despite locals telling us the sound back there is typically really loud and good. They all seemed to agree it was much quieter than usual, and we were confused why the loudest touring band in the country chose to sound more like background music for those enjoying the show at the fence line. Nick absolutely nailed the guitar solo, and really impressed the thousands of fans who were witnessing his axe-wielding skills for the first time. It was up-tempo and had a twangy sound to it, perhaps appealing more to the country-loving folks living under the big western skies. Right out the gate, they extended this one with a light jam, stretching it out ever-so slightly as Duane sped up the tempo. 

A well-executed sideways carrot introduced Henry Parsons. Rather than 6 o’ clock on Saturday, we were baptizing every creek in Georgia around 8:26 pm on a Tuesday. Written by Danny Hutchens and Eric Carter of Bloodkin, this was the first cover of the run and the first Tuesday Parsons of the year. It felt like the crowd was getting rowdy already. Dave’s backup vocals indicated that the band was ready to throw down and have a really good time. Observing fans, it was clear who comprised of the die-hard Panic fans, traveling massive distances to be there, and the normies. Attendees were either completely rage dancing with limbs flailing or just standing there barely nodding along. There was no in between. They absolutely brought it, and Nick lit the place up to an impressive early peak at 4:30 in the second song of the evening. JB was clearly fired up, singing with extra umph. They packed a lot into the six-minute Parsons. 

The band came to a full stop, giving JB time to talk to the percussionists. About 50 seconds later, they led into Walk On, a Neil Young cover first played on 1/12/87, this was Nick’s first time playing the tune with WSP. It was last played on 12/29/25 at the Fabulous Fox Theater, Jimmy Herring’s last run as the lead guitarist before Nick Johnson took the helm for their annual pilgrimage to Mexico. An excellent reminder that relationships can end in a supportive, healthy, and happy way. Simply walk on… no need to think too much about it! Jojo kicked it up a notch on the organ, inspiring the rest of the band to jam out a bit. Around 6:30, Duane started a Lovelight tease, which they jammed on for about a minute until Nick brought us back to the song at hand, it all got real! 

The band cohesively segued into Up All Night, the second Georgia song, go Dawgs!! The crew may have indeed been up all night. They unloaded all their gear down Snow King Mountain via a gondola (after clearing all the fans out) and then caught a flight to Missoula, and then unloaded all the gear at Kettlehouse. It’s quite possible this was a shout out to the hard work and deadication of the best crew in the land which supports the best band in the land. Thank you for your service! Jojo really lit this song up with his keyboard, tickling his plastic ivories. He’s really been bringing it, perhaps feeling very at home in Montana having just completed a mini tour the month prior. At 2:38, they entered into the UUUUUUUUUP All Night jam, which they’ve been tackling ferociously recently. This is a perfect song to hit the bathroom at the beginning of the tune and still not miss a single improvisational note. Around 6 minutes they worked themselves up into a frothy lather. In the spirit of naming jams during this tour, we are officially calling this mega super impressive jam The Wet Cobblestones Jam. Z-man helped us define a “jam” as a segment of the song where if you listened to it on its own you would not be able to tell which song they were playing in the moment. 

They transitioned without stopping, but the introduction to the next song was a bit strange. Almost sounding like C.Brown or Heaven until Nick played the guitar lick from Hatfield, a slightly muddled beginning to a song about a lot of mud. JB kicked off an impressive almost 3-minute rap at 8:27:

“I remember Hatfield’s mama. Ohh, a big beautiful lady. Aww with a glow, went out for blocks and blocks, old neighborhood too. Awww me and Charlie, we outside, playing cops and robbers. As we were wanting to do back on moves in 1960’s nights. Ooooh when we were done playing for a while, it was hot, so hot, in the summer time. Out came Hatfield’s sister on the back of her boyfriend's motorcycle. Awww, and they turned around to go back, but she was, slung over what was left of a 12-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon beers. We’d sit back, laaawwwwd, lay that coool salty stuff back, lookin’ at the clouds, lookin’ at the clouds, lookin’ at the clouds. Is there rain in the clouds? Is there rain in the clouds? All alone, just sitting back gettin’ a little fuzzy. And, Hatfield’s mama, inside there were so many good smells comin’ from their kitchen, through the window, through the air, over the fence, ahhhhh. Diving into our souls, cause it’s soul food. Automatic for the people. Oh, and Hatfield’s mama, she was sittin’ back in the living room in her comfy chair. Strummin’, pluckin’ away on her three-string banjo. Seventeen and a half bar bluuuuuuuues, ooooooh.”

They barely micro-paused before Jojo’s keys kicked off Blue Carousel, off their most recently released album Hail Bound Queen. We heard a rumor that Mikey’s nickname for Jojo is “Cat” so when he sang “Hey, Cat! What’s it all about” we thought of Mikey asking Jojo the question directly. This was a very feel-good song that reminds us that love and joy are what it’s all about! This was only the 14th live performance of the song, first debuted in Wilmington in 2023 when it was used as the “B” to spell out “BYE” in their infamous alphabet two-night run. 

Next up was We Walk Each Other Home, which is off of the brother album to the previous song, Snake Oil King. Both of which were released in 2024. We love that the band is writing and creating new music for us to all enjoy. A well-executed standard version of the song, they came to another stop.

Then, Duane launched them into Sometimes, the second cover of the evening. Originally written and released by fIREHOSUE, JB educated us about this during the Vegas run. We can’t hear this song without thinking of Todd Nance, and hearing his vocals in our mind’s ear. Dave ripped into an extra saucy bass solo, which elicited a response from the youngest member on the stage, Nick. Sunny was crushing it in the corner, keeping time like a perfect metronome. We tend to pump this in HQ when we’re in need of a hype-up. The highway was certainly calling us, as we are making our way around the entire western part of the country amongst many other fans! The vocals between JB and Schools were tremendous. They've been gelling together like old friends, sometimes, maybe always there for each other.

The song ended, and the entire band ripped into Action Man swiftly and they came out hot right out the gate! It was time to rage dance as wildly as possible, we knew this was the last one of the set. Jojo’s solo on the organ was reminiscent of a ballpark organ. We didn’t have any cracker jacks, but successfully snuck in our RX Bars for the upcoming set break snack. JB’s vocal stretch of the final “Saratoga” had us all weak in the knees. They set down their instruments / sticks and exited the stage for set break at 9:24 pm local time. 

After an incredibly fast-feeling set break, only 34 minutes later, the heroes took the helm. Based on the riverfront nature of the venue, Proving Ground was likely on many people’s BINGO cards. They also hadn’t played it since Valentine’s Day, so this was only our second time finding out how tall NJ was. From our observation, he was walkin’ real tall. This version was swampy, dirty, and spectacular. At 5:20 there was an ultimate warrior hawk scream before they went into the wild and crazy breakdown. By this time, fans that were caught unawares had returned from the beer line and the bathroom and the venue was rockin' once again. 

Well, lo’ and behold, in the middle of the river we found a hard working caterpillar. Many people we met and knew were in town to angle, excited to experience one of the best fly fishing areas in the world. In addition to fisherpeople, we also heard of many fans enjoying river floats before the show both days. This Proving Ground > Conrad sandwich felt like a possible nod to those trying to land trout in the river with a wooly bugger. Many people reached out suggesting the rarity of this particular sandwich, and it is indeed the first time it’s happened as a Proving > Conrad > Proving sandwich. Let’s review… Conrad has followed Proving Ground in the following shows:

• 10/18/89 Stop-Go

• 11/16/89 Porch Song

• 10/19/90 C. Brown

• 11/30/90

• 05/30/91 Just Kissed My Baby

• 04/16/00

• 10/02/10 Blue Indian

• 07/07/26 Proving Ground 

The song listed after the date is the song they played after Conrad. For example on October 18,1989, they played Proving Ground > Conrad > Stop-go. On the two dates without a song, Conrad ended the set. Therefore, it was indeed a very special mini one-layer sandwich that’s never been done before! The 739th live version of this song absolutely slapped. Each member crushed it. The first time this song was released on an album was just recently in 2022 on Miss Kitty’s Lounge, which is a compilation of previously unreleased demos they laid down in 1990 at John Keane’s studio in Athens, GA. Duane was flexing extra hard, his t-shirt may have ripped right off as he beat his kit into submission, even his drumsticks came under suspicion. 

The last minute of Conrad consisted of Zambi-esque noise making, signaling they were headed back to the River to remember “who to feel.” 

While at the merch stand, the WATLO Headquarters operatives procured three free Free Somehow CDs. Now we need a CD player! After the massive 596-show gap when they busted this out in Savannah at Halloween, they’ve seemed to put this back in rotation. Since then it’s been played at Port Chester, Birmingham, and now Missoula. This was Nick’s second time performing the number - he crushed it. 

Seamlessly, they began their second “free” song with None of Us Are Free. This is only the 53rd time played, despite the first time being over 21 years ago on 7/3/05 nearby at The Gorge Amphitheater in Washington. There was a 129-show gap when they played it on 10/10/10 (make a wish!), a 267-show gap on 8/24/18, a 114-show gap on 6/24/22. This was the shortest gap in over ten years at only five shows since the last time played at All Good. Made popular by Solomon Burke from his 2002 album that won a Grammy, but it was actually first released in 1993 by Ray Charles. 

They took a solid 30-second break, as fans talked about the “free” theme that was developing. Then, they eloquently queued up Gimme, the perfect song to play on a Tuesday. Jojo’s organ placed us all in church, as JB’s angelic voice graced us all, slowing down the tempo in the best way possible. Around 3:30, Nick channeled Michael Houser. We encourage every Panic fan to listen loud right at this moment to enjoy some lingering lead while thinking about our fallen hero. We miss you Mikey! They came to a beautiful stop, when Jojo fired up the keys.

It was finally time to Bust It Big and ride it on down to Mexico. Buy early and book often, PELP rooms are seemingly ready and available for purchase. Given the fact that they had a booth set up at Red Rocks and handed out 2027 koozies already, there’s likely plenty of options to choose from so you can get your favorite room type. This ranks up there as a favorite run for the WATLO Staffers, and we certainly don’t plan on missing this year. We’re gonna bust it huge and ride our mocktails down. 

A flawless transition, so well executed we guessed they rehearsed it, kicked off Pigeons. Almost nothing this band does fires us up like Sunny’s wooden blocks. This song is guitar rock at its finest. They all play off each other and can each go H.A.M. at the same time without getting in each other’s way. This was the 1,112th version, Pigeons earned its angel number (1,111) at All Good just a month prior. At 7:56 they all unleashed, it was terrifying. JB whispered, “wake up!” twice. Then said, “you gotta go!” “Dance on the ceiling child, before you go.” Then he mumbled something we can’t quite decipher, but what we did hear was “Oh, maybe a dream. Oh, maybe doggy’s slobber. Oh, maybe cat’s breath. Maybe your mother. Maybe your lover. Child, oh, nudging you. Wake up, wake up, wake up. ‘Member, ‘member how to fly. ‘Member how to flyyyyy.” It seemed he was listing various ways that may in fact wake you up.

As JB was reminding us how to fly, Jojo’s keys transitioned back into Bust It Big, completing the second sandwich of the set. All sandwiches so far since Red Rocks have been single decker, kind of like a hotdog. At 2:25 soon after they built up the crescendo to “Rosemary’s baby,” Schools unleashed a venomous cry reminiscent of a bird of prey mimicking a chicken. 

Just as we reviewed the previous one-layered sandwich from earlier in the set, let’s review the rarity and uniqueness of BiB > Pigeons > BiB. Pigeons followed Bust It Big during the following shows:

• 07/15/07 Second Skin

• 10/06/07

• 11/09/07 Mr. Soul

• 10/31/09 Lake of Fire

• 06/12/11 Chilly Water

• 04/16/24 Mr. Soul

• 07/07/26 Bust It Big

Similarly to before, the song listed is the song they played after Pigeons, and in the one instance there is no song, it's because Pigeons ended the second set. Yet again, we were treated to a very unique sandwich that had never been done before.

Let’s talk about Bust It Big sandwich bread. The song was first played on September 26, 2003, the band only started using it as sandwich bread on 10/26/18 when they sandwiched Life During Wartime between the two halves. It’s been used as bread the following times: 

• 7/12/19 Genesis

• 10/29/21 Drums, Contentment Blues

• 11/17/21 Drums

• 2/19/22 Drums

• 6/25/22 Guilded Splinters

• 7/24/22 Drums, One Kind Favor

• 4/21/23 Drums, Arleen

• 4/16/24 Drums

• 11/1/25 Aunt Avis > Diner > Party At Your Mama's House > Ribs And Whiskey, Second Skin > Tie Your Shoes (Read the recap HERE)

The band smoothly transitioned into Low Rider. Nick destroyed this song. We are so glad this song is back in rotation after its long shelf life until Birmingham. That one felt more condensed, this version was much more airy. Nick’s petal effects created an echo-type sound. Around 3:11, JB said “see where we’ve been chiiiiild.” Then, the band dropped into an epic jam. We’re on a roll naming jams, so why stop now? This one is lovingly referred to as the Small Spare Tire Jam. If you hear a jam and you want to name it, email us! watlopodcast@gmail.com. We always need more interns! We loved the energy this jam brought. They slowed it down to figure out the best way to begin the next song, which ended up being a bit of a fizzle with some DAS noodling. 

Dave took us on a bass journey that would make Roger Waters proud. Then, he started the iconic bassline that’s been burned into the folds of Spreadhead brains for the rest of time, Tie Your Shoes. They sunk down into yet another jam! Missoula was getting alllll the condiments. The Shoelace Jam was one for the ages. Right around 5:13, JB started shredding. When the front man is playing like that, you know you’re getting your face melted. Six cylinders of straight gasoline. Shoelaces for everyone!!! Then, Dave got back into the standard TYS bassline as they built up into a crescendo of massive proportions. JB was making laser sounds, and wasn’t quite ready to love his girl, so they built it up yet again, ever so high! How high can they go? To the peaks of the Bitter Root mountains and then some! Finally at 7:53, JB was ready to warn all the men in the amphitheater that they best love their girls or someone else may “jump in” to love their girl. 

Duane started Junior, but may have taken some other band members off guard a smidge. It took them some time to all get on the same page. It took us by surprise too, as this felt like a really weird placement for the song. Despite its weird location in the set, we were stoked! When reviewing the data, we decided to only look at shows after Duane had joined the band (10/3/14). Typically played in the first set (see pie chart), it’s less common to see Junior played in the second. However, this was the first time in the Duane era that they closed the second set with Junior. The other 21 times it’s been played in the second set, it was towards the beginning or middle of the set, never the second set closer! 

JB was extra sultry. We may or may not have witnessed a few normie Missoula Moms asking, “Who is this guy??? And is he single?” likely feeling feelings they haven’t felt in ages. With no words needed, the second set ended.

They got back on stage for the encore after mere minutes, and they went into Me and the Devil Blues. Written by famed Delta Blues musician, Robert Johnson, Panic has covered this song 272 times. First played on 8/7/89, last played in Playa, this was Nick’s second opportunity to get bluesy. JB’s voice sounded extremely juicy, seemingly inspiring Nick to get creative. Jojo had a beautiful solo, sexy enough to elicit a “Go, Jojo!!!” from a member of his fan club. JB then unleashed the second verse, which for lack of a better word, was superb. Nick had a turn soloing and we were absolutely blown away. He cast a spell of sorts, and created a transcendental experience. As if channeling Stevie Ray Vaughn, or even Robert Johnson himself, he knocked our socks off. If anyone doubted his abilities entering the venue, the doubts had completely vanished. He did something miraculous on that stage, and we were so grateful to have witnessed it. His solo alone is worth a revisit to this song. Wow. Stunning performance by all the gentlemen on stage.

After walking with the devil, the band decided to remind us that we are in fact in Heaven, in this very moment. They saved the largest LTP gap for the last and final song of the night. Last played in Port Chester, 25 shows ago, this was Nick’s first time playing the Talking Heads tune with the best band in the land. We loved the juxtaposition of the devil and then heaven. Our CBA even gave the encore a chef’s kiss, which, let us tell you, is exceedingly rare. Truly, nothing could be as fun as a Panic show, especially one underneath the stars, in the mountains, capping off the first live performance in Montana since 20013. This entire show had zero repeats from Red Rocks, meaning the band played five total shows without a single repeat. We were so pleased by this! 

JB said, “Goodnight ladies and gents. See ya tomorrow night!” With that we were free to look for heady floor scores, stop and chat with friends, and slowly and cautiously make our way towards the exit. We did not run, we promise! We were a bit surprised to see a massive balloon scene out front given the fact that vending seemed forbidden on the way into the show. Given that the show was outdoors and in a neighborhood, we assumed the curfew would be a lot earlier, but we didn’t get back to our car until 12:15 am. Go, Panic! 

Thank you to our Title Sponsor, Higher Love: