Widespread Panic ended their encore at Live Oak Bank Pavilion in Wilmington, North Carolina on Friday with a song they have played three times in nearly forty years. Burning Down The House, the 1983 Talking Heads single from Speaking In Tongues, closed out the second of two nights in the city and ended a gap of 327 shows.
For a band whose audience keeps its own records, that number is the story. JamBase, which reported the performance on 21 September, traces the song's history with the group precisely: a debut on 31 December 2013, a single return 219 shows later on New Year's Eve 2016 in Nashville, and then nothing until Wilmington.
The 2016 version was a larger affair, with The McCrary Sisters and the MegaBlaster Horns on stage. The Wilmington rendition was the band on its own, with John Bell taking the lead vocal, JoJo Hermann on clavinet and a run of hard riffing from guitarist Nick Johnson.
Johnson's presence is its own subplot. He has held the guitar chair across Widespread Panic's 2026 dates in place of Jimmy Herring, and a rarity like this one landing on his watch gives the bust-out a second meaning for anyone following the band closely this year.
The rest of the night was a working Widespread Panic show. The first set opened with Pigeons and moved through a Stop-Go into Ribs And Whiskey, King Baby, Greta, You Got Yours, We Walk Each Other Home, Hatfield and Blackout Blues. The second set built around Fishwater, which bracketed Arleen before a Second Skin, Party At Your Mama's House and Drums sequence, then Cease Fire, C. Brown, Up All Night and All Time Low.
Halloween Face came first in the encore, which is the kind of placement that tells a veteran audience something is coming. Video of the cover circulated after the show, and official audio of the Wilmington concert went up through nugs.
Bust-outs of this kind are why a chunk of the Widespread Panic audience travels. A setlist in rotation since the late 1980s leaves room for songs nobody in the room expects, and the band have kept that door open rather than settling into a fixed show. Their Albany 2000 archival release comes from the same habit of treating old nights as worth revisiting.
The band's autumn runs continue, including a return to New Orleans for Halloween. Dates are listed on the tour guide, and more rock coverage sits on our genre hub.
The facts
- Widespread Panic covered Burning Down The House in Wilmington, North Carolina.
- The show was at Live Oak Bank Pavilion on Friday 18 September.
- It was the first performance of the song in 327 shows.
- It was only the third time the band have played it.
- The previous outing was New Year's Eve 2016 in Nashville.
- John Bell sang, JoJo Hermann played clavinet and Nick Johnson played guitar.
- Johnson has covered for Jimmy Herring throughout the band's 2026 shows.
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