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Widespread Panic sets summer trek 'Free'
Jam band veterans Widespread Panic have mapped out a summer concert run following their scheduled slot at Bonnaroo, where they will close out the festival.
The band was recently moved into position as headliners of the Manchester, TN festival's final day--June 15--after original headliner Jack Johnson was switched to the previous day of the three-day event. The move filled a vacancy left by The Allman Brothers Band, who had to pull out so that Gregg Allman can continue to recover from hepatitis C treatments. Following the festival gig, Widespread Panic will kick off a three-day engagement with a June 20 show in Los Angeles.
The summer run will take the group to 17 cities, including the Athens, GA-based band's first trip to Canada in more than a decade, starting with a July 5 show in Toronto, followed by an appearance at the July 6 Ottawa Bluesfest in the nation's capital city. The full schedule is included below.
Widespread Panic is supporting "Free Somehow," its 10th studio album and the follow-up to 2006's "Earth to America." The new disc was recorded in Nassau, Bahamas, and produced by legendary studio presence Terry Manning (ZZ Top, Jimmy Buffett), who also produced the band's previous LP.
The set, which hit stores in February, is the group's first release with new guitarist Jimmy Herring, who replaced George McConnell last fall. McConnell had joined Panic following the 2002 cancer death of founding member Michael Houser.
Widespread Panic also recently released "Driving Songs Vol. II," which is available exclusively at its download website. That set, available in download and CD formats, features 33 songs--one from each stop on the band's fall 2007 tour. Tunes include covers of Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" and Metallica's "Enter Sandman."
