Panic on the Gulf

Over the past weekend, Meg and I wanted to get away for some relaxation and fun to celebrate her completion of chemo. It was sort of a last minute trip that we started planning the week before. We decided to go down to Alabama’s gulf cost for some beach time and to see Widespread Panic who was playing at the Wharf Amphitheater. Everything fell in place just right for us. When we made the decision to go, we called Meg’s cousin Ricky who works and lives in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area to see if he could help us out renting a place on the beach. It just so happens that his parent’s condo in Gulf Shores was just completed with the rebuilding and renovation after Hurricane Ivan almost completely destroyed the building over three years ago. We really appreciate Meg’s Aunt Ann and Uncle Roddy for allowing us to stay in that beautiful condo right on the beach. Everything was decorated so nicely and the location couldn’t have been better.

Here is a shot of Meg enjoying the beach!

After arriving late on Friday night in tornado and thunderstorm warnings, we woke up to a beautiful blue-sky day. After running to the store for our weekend supplies, we hit the beach for a relaxing day in the sun and sand. There is nothing better than sitting with our feet in the sand, a cold beer in your hand and watching the waves roll in! Once Ricky got off work, he came over to the condo to pick us up and take us to the Wharf for dinner then the show. The Wharf is a pretty new development that is about 10 minutes from the beach and has condos, shops, restaurants, a marina, a golf course and an amphitheatre all on a bay. It is sort of like a little Disney World without the rides. But they did have huge Ferris wheel! At that time, Ricky hadn’t planned on attending the show with us, but Meg and I were able to talk him into joining us. He had never seen Panic before and admitted he had some pre-conceived notions about them and other “Jam Bands.”

We were able to find Ricky a ticket as we were walking towards the gates. The show experience didn’t start out well since the lines were so long to get into the venue. The security at shows in Alabama always seems to be tighter than any other state. I guess they are worried about having another Oak Mt. experience when there were a crazy amount of drug busts and OD’s that weekend. Panic has never played there again. I am not real sure why Panic continues to play in the state when their fans get so hassled. But I am glad they do so I can see them more often and we don’t have anything to worry about when it comes to what they are looking for. Anyway, once we got past the incredibly long lines and Gestapo security guards patting down people almost too closely, we located our seats or something close to them and took in the venue. It is a place that seats about 10,000 and is about 300 yards off of the water on the left and huge pine trees and wetlands that surround the back of the seats. There was a full moon that night which also added to the cool outdoor vibe of the venue.

The band came on late due to the fact that most of the crowd was not in the venue until after 8:30 due to the tight security. But once they came out, they started strong with Porch Song into Low Rider and I’m not alone. That was a great way to get Ricky into the flow and he was having a great time. Ricky was thrown off a little by the set break, he didn’t realize they played two full sets and an encore. The second set started a little slow but they finished very strong with All time low into Boom Boom Boom and then Flat Foot Flewzy. Then they came back with a solid encore of One Arm Steve into Magot Brain and Fishwater to finish the night strong. I couldn’t think of a better show or venue for someone to see his or her first Panic show. In talking to Ricky after the show, he threw out that he would categorize the band as Jane’s Addiction meets The Dobbie Brothers. I had never thought of them that way but I can see what he means. They play some high-energy songs and tend to jam them out.

Here is a plane flying over the beach advertising the shows, I have never seen that before!

Ricky liked the show so much he wanted to go back the next night for the 4/20 show. Only we didn’t have tickets for that show and we were thinking we might take it easy and chill at the beach. But we also said we would see how the afternoon went and make a decision later. After spending some time at the beach on Sunday, Ricky and a friend came to pick us up to take us to a landmark in that area, the Florabama! Everyone had been to the Florabama before but me and I was the driving force behind going there. I had heard so much about it that I had to see if for myself. Lets just say, it was everything that I thought it was going to be! It is a total dive and the crowd was quite diverse, but was a lot of fun to see and be a part of for a while. I was kicking my self for not bringing my camera and I am just a little upset that we missed the Mullet Toss by one weekend. Anyway, while we were enjoying margaritas and after we signed our names on one of the posts, a guy approached us with some tickets for the show that night. He was trying to get rid of them and was selling them cheap. We took that as a sign and realized we were destined to go to the 4/20 show. We were all excited, especially Ricky!

Once we got back to the Wharf, we proceeded to stand in line again for far too long. We even missed the first song because of the security line. They were even worse than the night before. The first set was another good one that finished with Ribs And Whiskey, Fixin' To Die & Tall Boy. For this show, our seats were a lot lower and that made Ricky’s second show even better. Also, Ricky really enjoyed the water throwing during Chilly water in the second set. He compared the Panic fans to Rocky Horror fans with roles to play during the performance! That is another one I haven’t heard before. Ricky also enjoyed the glow sticks, I guess I am just so used to seeing the glow sticks flying around that it doesn’t even faze me anymore. The band finished out the second set strong and then came our rocking in the encore with The Last Straw, Ain't Life Grand into End Of The Show.

Thanks again to Aunt Ann and Uncle Roddy for the lodging and for Ricky for showing us around his town and having an open mind to try something new. Also, thanks to my parents for taking care of the boys while we were gone. Meg and I had a great time and I think Widespread has a new fan for life in Ricky. He was talking about quitting his job to go on the road to follow the band while selling glow sticks to make money for tickets and travel expenses. Sounds like a good plan to me!