| Name |
Widespread Panic |
| Height |
|
| Naionality |
American |
| Date of Birth |
|
| Place of Birth |
Athens, Georgia, USA |
| Famous for |
Singing |
Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Todd Nance, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring. Michael Houser and George McConnell have also played lead guitar for the band.
Since their inception in Athens, Georgia, in 1986, Widespread Panic has risen to elite status among American jam bands. Following in the steps of other Southern rock jam bands such as The Allman Brothers, they have influences from the Southern rock, blues-rock, progressive rock, funk and hard rock genres. They are frequently compared to other jam band "road warriors" such as the Grateful Dead and Phish.Widely renowned for their live performances, as of 2011, they hold the record for number of sold-out performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre (Morrison, Colorado) at 38 and Philips Arena (Atlanta, Georgia) at 17.
Known for never playing the same show twice, the band has a show-to-show ritual of choosing the night's setlist. At the beginning of each tour, a member of the band's road crew makes a master list of all the songs the band performs and laminates it. Each night before the show he marks the last 3 nights' set lists in different colors. The band can see what has been played recently and then decide what songs to play during the first set. They return back to the list during setbreak to pick songs for the second set, and likewise, return after the second set for any additional sets if playing more than two, or the encore. This process is explained by the late Garrie Vereen in the DVD The Earth Will Swallow You.
Widespread Panic has the policy of allowing any of their fans to tape, trade, and to a limited extent freely distribute their shows. However, anonymous distribution such as P2P and commercial distribution is not permitted. Fans have been taping and trading shows since before they gained national prominence, allowing them to gain their strong national following.
