.png)
Wilmington, NC - Combined Stats (9.18-9.19 2026)
Updated: Sep 22
After fifteen summer shows out west and then a random 3-night indoor casino run in the mid-Atlantic, Panic was back outside in the South, the homeland. More and more, we keep hearing Panic fans raving about 2-night runs. It seems the older the band gets, the older the fanbase gets, and giving it our all for only two nights means there’s nothing but heat fire coming off the stage and from the crowd. North Carolina is a comfortable state for the band to play in. Their first show in Wilmington was on 8/1/91 at The Mad Monk, where they played again in ‘92 and ‘94. For their 16th and 17th performances in Wilmington, NC, they played at the Live Oak Bank Pavilion, which used to be called the Riverfront Park Amphitheater before the city secured a sponsor. The outdoor venue holds 7,200, and as far as we could tell from online and text threads, tickets were harder to come by than they have been in the past. This was their 4th time back at this venue since it opened in 2021. It’s nice to see the south show up for the Boys in such a strong showing.
The last time Panic played at this venue was almost exactly three years prior (Sept 15 and 16, 2023) where they performed the iconic alphabet setlists, and notably the last performed Use Me. Fans were expecting them to throw down, given their long history of annihilating performances and melting faces in NC. Unfortunately, no WATLO correspondents were in attendance, but we still put together the stat compilation for you, and had some boots-on-the-ground interns reporting back.
One of our interns, Leslie, had some comments about the crowd: "There were tons of college kids, young kids with parents, first timers, and I even saw a Grandma with her college granddaughter so she could see why her granddaughter loved this band so much!"
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: Papa Legba
374th time ever played
58th time ever opening a show with Papa Legba (last time was on 4/18/23, the LTP until LA this summer).
24 times with Mikey on lead guitar
16 times with George on lead guitar
17 times with Jimmy on lead guitar
1 time with Nick on lead guitar
Most common song to follow PL as an opener:
Disco: 5 times
Space Wrangler: 5 times
Originally released by the Talking Heads on True Stories in 1986. Panic officially released it on Light Fuse Get Away in 1998.
Night 2: Pigeons
1,115th time ever played
124th time ever opening a show with Pigeons.
81 times with Mikey on lead guitar
3 times with George on lead guitar
37 times with Jimmy on lead guitar
3 times with Nick on lead guitar
Released on Mom’s Kitchen in 1991.
Set Two Openers:
Night 1: The Take Out
368th time ever played
33rd time ever opening a second set with TTO.
First time: 3/12/88 (Atlanta, GA)
Last time: 5/24/24 (Memphis, TN)
Released on Space Wrangler (1988)
Night 2: And It Stoned Me
174th time ever played
18th ever opening a second set with AISM.
First time: 10/20/87 (Chapel Hill, NC)
Last time: 7/26/25 (Asheville, NC)
Coincidence that they were both in NC?! Most likely, yes, a total accident!
Van Morrison cover originally released on Moondance (1970).
Nick’s Firsts / Largest Last Time Played (LTP) Gaps:
Night 1:
City of Dreams: 169th time ever played
LTP: 6/14/26 (Columbia, MD), 19-show gap
This is NOT a FTP for Nick… but the largest show gap of the night
FTP: 3/4/92 (Athens, GA)
Released by the Talking Heads on True Stories in 1986. Widespread Panic had a live version on Uber Cobra, released in 2004.
Night 2:
Cease Fire: 73rd time ever played (This is IS a FTP for Nick)
LTP: 8/21/25 (Boston, MA), 54-show gap
FTP: 3/20/15 (Oakland, CA)
Released on Street Dogs in 2015.
Burning Down the House: 3rd time ever played (This is IS a FTP for Nick)
LTP: 12/31/16 (Nashville, TN), 327-show gap
FTP: 12/31/13 (Atlanta, GA)
Released by the Talking Heads on Speaking in Tongues in 1983.
Encores:
Night 1: City of Dreams, Saint Ex
77th time City of Dreams was placed in the encore (169th time ever played)
45.6% of the time CoD is played, it’s in the encore.
11th time Saint Ex was placed in the encore (163rd time ever played)
Saint Ex has only been in the encore 6.7% of its total times played.
First and ONLY time Saint Ex ever followed City of Dreams (in any set!).
Night 2: Halloween Face, Burning Down the House
6th time Halloween Face was placed in the encore (41st time ever played)
14.6% of all HF’s are in the encore.
2nd time Burning Down the House was placed in the encore (3rd time ever played)
You can do that math without a calculator!
First played 12/31/13 to open the third set of their NYE show at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, GA. Played a second time as the final song of their NYE show (slot 2 of 2 in the encore) in Nashville, TN at the Nashville Arena.
The only two times BDTH was played, Halloween Face was only a glimmer in JB’s eyes, so this is indeed a first time encore!
Noteworthy Moments:
2-hour rain delay during night 1
On-the-ground reporters let us know the storm was WORSE than Birmingham, due to the wind.
Leslie, one of our on-the-ground interns reported: "During the storm delay Friday people were having parking deck parties, hung out in apartment building mailrooms, jumped on unoccupied porches, went to local bars and back to hotels for a refresh. It was an orderly reentry, thanks to the cops and staff, but the energy was high. I know a bunch of people who didn't have tickets that made it in for the second set because there was no way to rescan tickets."
Some dialogue about the storm:
“Get your umbrellas!” Dave
“There’s a little drizzle coming….” JB maniacally before ripping into ILS
“We’ll be right back, a little weather coming!”
“Good job, everybody!” Schools before set 2
Vacation as Sandwich Bread
A dear friend reached out, asking us to investigate the night 1 sandwich: Vacation > Tackle Box Hero > Vacation. Otherwise known as a Tackle Box Hero sandwich with Vacation bread (that's for you, Miranda!). Let’s dive in… Vacation has been played 148 times. Mikey was on lead guitar during the first 74 performances, and many consider this a Mikey song. It’s hard not to hear his storytelling vocals even in the absence of him physically being on stage. None of those performances contained a second installment of Vacation, therefore as of 6/22/02, there was no evidence of Vacation bread. George was at the helm for the next 8 performances, all as single-played versions. Sam Holt was filling in as the lead guitarist during one performance (8/10/06) until Jimmy took over for the next 61 times played. Lo’ and behold, those 61 performances were the classic performance of Vacation, bringing us all the way to 2026. Since Nick has joined the band, they have played Vacation in five shows, but only once have they played it twice in the same show, 9/18/26 in Wilmington, NC. A first time ever Vacation bread occasion! Tasty!
While night one didn’t feature any “new” songs to add to Nick’s catalog, there were two songs that had been on the shelf quite a while until the run in LA: Papa Legba and Galleon. These are the only two songs from this night that have only been played once out of the last 100 shows. Papa Legba got a nice dusting after 113 shows and Galleon after 150 shows. Let’s hope the second appearance of each song means they are back in the “regular” rotation!
Comments