Photos by Brady Cooling 

Panic kicked off the Fall Tour with a solid first night of the run. When you walk into the beautiful Warner Theatre in DC and hear the open notes to Diner, it seemed like all fans were “baskin’ in the light.” This 15 minute rendition of a staple Panic classic was certainly a positive sign of things to come that night. Without stopping we got a nice hearty “Bear’s Gone Fishing” led by Schools signature bass lines, JoJo’s organ work, and a nice chill groove from the backbone of the band to start off the song. “Climb to Safety” came next, this was a great scorching rendition of a straight-forward classic that saw JB really howlin’ into the microphone. Herring’s face locked in for a pretty menacing solo on this particular “Climb to Safety.” Standard, but a solid fun one early on. Things took a nice turn with a solid turn with “Lil Kin,” a song that really saw Duane, Jimmy, and Dave Schools lock in for somewhat standard yet highly energized jam.

Then we got rocked. John Bell preached with an fiery “Travelin’ Light.” The energy in the Warner was evident as the Duane Train rolled right through this one; Jimmy , Schools, JB smiled in approval of JoJo’s exceptional Hammond B-3 organ work. A menacing solo from Jimmy  came pummeling through at the end of this one to make one mean “Travelin’ Light.” As Jimmy concluded, JoJo came back in mellow on the organ, quickly building it right back into the song. Jimmy then took the bull by the horns again for another jam with Schools and Duane thundering away together. There is no doubt in my mind that Duane and School’s time together with Hard Working Americans has helped them to continue to play more cohesively together. They’ve always rocked together, but put them in two bands and you’re going to see clear results from the extensive nights on the road, the personal friendships, and just being on stage together constantly. We all miss Todd, but it is good to see the boys continue playing and Duane has stepped up to issue the drum throne well.

They got us with  a 4 song segue with “B of D” to keep things rolling, the last time the band played the song before the DC show was July 15, 2016 at Fox Theater, Oakland, CA. This started a great segue to end the second set with “B of D” > “Bust It Big”> “Weight of the World”>”Junior.” Panic really meshed these transitions well together as expected. The crowd reaction to “B of D” certainly set the tone for the rest to follow accordingly.

In all we were off to a great start. We got some ballads, heavier songs, and some staples in the second set, kicking off with a “Christmas Katie” > “Radio Child.” You probably wanna give that Radio Child a re-listen, nothing too far out there, but notable. From there the band played the ballad “Aunt Avis” with a nice segue “Rebirtha” that included an extended jam section. Dave Schools really harnessed his inner rock n roll with a thundering “Imitation Leather Shoes” > “Tall Boy” > “Ride Me High.” As excepted there was an extended drum section before this. Then the band ripped two newer songs, “Cease Fire” and “Honky Red.” These were interesting second set song selections that gave DC fans a good variety this show.

The run overall was fun, as usual, but Tuesday night is worth a re-listen for you fans out there.

Set 1

01.Diner>
02.Bears Gone Phishin’ >
03.Climb To Safety
04.Lil Kin >
05.Travelin’ Light
06.B of D >
07.Bust It BiG >
08.Weight of the World >
09.Junior

Set 2

01.Christmas Katie >
02.Radio Child
03.Aunt Avis >
04.Rebirtha >
05.JAM >
06.Imitation Leather Shoes
07.Tall Boy >
08.Ride Me High >
09.Drumz >
10.Cease Fire >
11.Honky Red

Encore

01.Crowd
02.Chilly Water

Source:Schoeps mk4v(ortf)>kc5>M222> NT222>Sonosax SX-R4+ 24/96
Location: FOB
Taped By: Chris King