Porch Song - The song starts off with the noise of the crowd, as you can tell they are waiting for the band. Goes on to some simple guitar chords, which you can tell just from this it the song has a very country vibe to it. About three minutes into the song it starts to pick up and go into a really great guitar solo. Michael Houser truly is one of the most underrated guitar players ever in my opinion. After that the piano is truly evident, and this goes on for a quite a good while. After a little bit of that it goes straight into one of the most amazing bass solos I have ever heard. In my opinion Chris Schools blows Les Claypool clear out of the water as far as bass skills go. Then, we hear a little guitar solo, then going into the apparent bass line which leads us right into the next song. Great Song.
5/5
Disco - The song starts off with the ending bass line of the last song. From there it picks up speed and is quite a lot faster than "Porch Song". Then they go into a really nice piano part like a lot of their songs. Followed by another stunning bass solo. This man plays a six string bass like nothing I have ever heard. Afterwards , you get a little bit of keyboards and then goes straight back into the main theme of the song. A little later on there is a really great guitar solo that goes really well with the song. This track is quite a short track by W.P standards, clocking in at 4:21. Good song.
4.2/5
Diner - The song starts off with some very faint guitar playing. In the background you can hear the percussion and keyboards which is nice. It goes on like this for a few minutes, gets a little repetitive. But after that it gets going in and you can tell it is a softer less upbeat song compared to the last few. A little while later it goes into a fairly distorted guitar riff, followed by a guitar solo. Goes back to the main riff and now the keyboards become more evident than they ever were. A little while after that another guitar solo comes in and it is a much longer and greater than the last one. The lyrics are pretty interesting, obviously talking about all the different things that you can do in a Diner. Fantastic Song.
5/5
Wondering - At the start the most evident thing is the percussion and piano and that’s what gets the song started. This is a more country, folkish song. You can tell this just by the singing and lyrics. The piano work is what is really great in this song and really is what holds the song together. There are a few guitar solos here in there, the first one is pretty short, but the other one is better and quite a bit longer. Decent song.
4/5
Love Tractor - The song starts off with a really catchy guitar riff. Its very different from any of the songs so far on the album. It is a really upbeat and catchy song, that is probably to be expected though, with a name like "love tractor". They use a bit more distortion on this song than ever usually do, so that makes it stand out quite a bit from the other songs. Pretty good song.
4.5/5
Pilgrims - This a softer, much slower song. The guitar riff is really relaxing and the piano just adds to that. This goes on for a pretty long time. Then there is a great guitar solo which goes along just fantastic with the song. Afterwards, they go right back into the main theme of the song. The lyrics are wonderful as well they are telling the story of the pilgrims basically. A break comes in and a couple of drum fills come in and they hit a few guitar chords and then they go right back into it. Good song.
4/5
Space Wrangler - This is one of W.P. most famous songs they have ever written. I believe that everything about this song is great from the instrumentation, to the singing , to the lyrics. Especially the lyrics, he always has this unique way of telling a story with his lyrics which always is great. The guitar solo in this is great it quite a bit more melodic than any of his other stuff. A little later on they change pace completely and they pull out a great guitar solo with a great effect not sure what it is, it does standout however because Michael Houser rarely uses effects. Great Song.
5/5
Travelin' Light - At the start of this one there some interesting percussion going on. A some soft strumming of the guitar. This is another really great song, John again uses his great country voice again to give the listener that great feel everytime he sings it. The only problem with this song is, it gets quite a bit repetitive over a little while. It is still a pretty good song.
4/5
Pickin' Up the Pieces - At the beginning of the song it serves up some pretty interesting guitar work. Pretty different than most of the stuff. I love this song because it has a little bit of a jazzy feel because of the horns in the song. Courtesy of guest star - Branford Marsalis. Because of this the song is quite a bit more relaxing than most of the other songs on here.
4.8/5
Conrad - The beginning of the song sounds very bluesy. Which is quite odd because they rarely ever play any version of the blues. But once the song starts you can definitely tell that they are playing the blues by the guitar and his tone of voice. Towards the middle of the song there is a short little guitar solo that fits great with the song and uses that effect again. It is one of my favorites on the album simply because I love the blues.
5/5
Disc 2:
Papa Legba - At the start you can hear the sound of the crowd and what sounds likes a whistle of some sort. After that Schools comes in with a really funky bass line. And then there comes a really interesting guitar riff. But what really holds the song together is the bass line from Schools. This is a very different song from something than that what you would think Widespread Panic would ever do. The lyrics are alright although definitely not their best they have done.
4/5
Rebirtha - The song starts off with a really catchy bass line. The song itself has a really nice groove, and what’s really cool about the song is the guys voice. He has a really deep voice, something you usually never hear from Jon. The guitar work on this is really nothing special compared to a lot of the other stuff on here.
4.3/5
Rock - The start of this song is most based on the drums. You can faintly hear some guitar harmonics in the background, but at the start of this song there is not a whole lot going on. But a little later on there comes a good guitar riff and quite a bit of keyboard action in the background. This is a very country song. Probably the closest thing to country rock on the entire CD. Even with that it is still a great song. And Houser actually plays a little slide on this song. Which is odd, because he never plays it but he definitely should because he has a lot of talent on the slide. This is a great song.
5/5
Greta - Starts off with an interesting bass line. Kind of an odd sounding song, has some interesting guitar parts in it. Most Widespread Panic fan really like this song but I actually do not care for it as much as most of their songs.
3/5
Impossible/Jam - This song is pretty good, It is mostly just a jam as the title suggests. But is a very good one at that. Everyone in the band is really going great together and just overall playing great. It clocks in at over ten minutes, so its not something I would suggest to the impatient listener. But it still is very good despite its length.
4.5/5
Drums - When you read the title for this song you are probably thinking that this is just going to be a song that consists wholly of the drums, like the Grateful Dead did. But after a little bit of drums the rest of the band comes in and the guitar brings in a distorted riff which really changes the song up.
4/5
Pigeons - The beginning of this song is really relaxing. With just the keyboard playing and nothing else. Then a guitar part comes in and it is pretty psychedelic almost sounds like an early Dead song. It continues to bring this vibe throughout the whole song. A really great song, one of my favorites.
5/5
Overall this is a great album. This is probably in my top 3 best live albums of all time. Overall I believe that Disc 1 is a lot stronger than Disc 2 but they both have their moments. I would recommend this to everyone. But especially to those who love Jam Bands, Free Form Rock , and just Rock.
