Mikey Takes a Seat: Climbing To Safety, In a Folding Chair

By Alfred Millikan

Early in the Spring of 1997, Widespread Panic came to Park City for a two-night stand at the old Wolf Mountain Arena on March 14 th and 15th. The area’s many heads came out for these shows. After a long chilly winter working and dealing with all the tourists, they needed something to rock them into the upcoming warmer temperatures. The arena was a hockey dome at the foot of a gorgeous old ski resort but, even with the glorious views outside, the inside had some of the worst acoustics of any venue, anywhere. JB even said the previous year as the show was starting “Welcome to the Fish Bowl!” That did not matter- Widespread Panic again didn't let the Wasatch Locals down: the shows were great and old Danny got the sound as tuned to the building as best he was able.

Wolf Mountain - Photo courtesy of Panic Stream

Around 11:30am the morning before the show, Freddy walked out of his bedroom into the basement living room and saw the entire floor space covered up with heads from all over the country: Joe and Jeremy , two tapers from Portland (who arrived around 5am), Beau and Christy from Bozeman, Alex from Nashville, Henry from Denver, and a guy he only knew as “Crow,” were waking up as he lit the fire in the large granite fireplace. The warmth spread out across the room and the soft firelight flickered in the sleepy eyes opening all around him. Jeremy peaked out of his sleeping bag, flipped a switch on his DAT recorder which was dubbing the previous night’s show from Vail, and disappeared back into his bag. These people weren’t just any random heads that asked for floor space: they were Phamily—met and bonded with over miles and miles and shared jam space. Coffee was already brewing upstairs and a few moments later people were filling the small kitchen. Over the next 6 days, the crew would see 5 shows together and this little pre-run party was just what Freddy needed to get into the mood.

The first night started with a surprise: Wait! Why is Mikey sitting down? Everyone looked around in wonder after he came out, took his normal spot over to stage right next to JB and sat down in a chair. Freddy looked around and saw many curious stares from the crowd. Freddy shrugged his shoulders at Beau who had a strange look on his face looking up at Mikey. The first notes of Glory started out and the crowd dug in for the show. The sound was horrendous for the first few moments as the crew tweaked and tuned the PA system for the full crowd and strangely shaped roof. The first set included a rarely covered New Riders of the Purple Sage song “Dirty Business,” which had everyone grinning from ear to ear. An old school pairing of Holden Oversoul>Love Tractor brought the set to a wonderfully rocking end.

Between the sets, Freddy went backstage and the answer was given from the man himself: Mikey was going to sit down from then on because for years his foot had been going to sleep rocking his volume pedal. Walking back out into the crowd, Freddy saw his group and told a couple of the guys what was happening with Mikey. As the news travelled around the taper’s section, various speculations occurred and many people, who had never even met him became truly concerned about the guitar player’s wellbeing.

After the show, Freddy took the group to a favorite hangout, The Rusty Axe. The local watering hole was spiced up by the addition of several brightly colored hippies nudging up to the bar with the tourists and locals alike. Turbo, the bartender at the Axe who used to be on the US Ski Team and was one of Freddy’s ski buddies, was swamped with requests for “heady” beers and “vegan appetizers.” These are atypical questions from atypical guests as most tourists are interested in burgers and beers and he laughed in Freddy’s direction at Freddy’s friends.

The second night’s show had a different vibe and flavor. The day of the show was sunny with gorgeous blue skies and the group all went skiing with Freddy, who was a ski instructor at a local resort. Everyone proclaimed in various manners throughout the day how beautiful it was there in Park City and how lucky Freddy was to live there. Freddy just thought about how lucky it was to be able ski all day and then drive to a show less than 2 miles from his house to boogie hard that night. Walking around inside the venue, Freddy noticed that many people came to the show with “raccoon eyes” from skiing in the brilliant sunshine.

Wolf Mountain, 2nd Night with Jerry Joseph. Photo by Alfred Millikan

The show started with a great cover of Van Morrison’s Send Your Mind before blasting off into a long series of segues that included blistering covers of Neil Young’s “Walk On” and Hot Tuna’s “Genesis” intertwined with some crowd favorites.

Setbreak’s lights came up and the crowd kept screaming after that blistering set. Freddy sat down and grinned as he checked his tape from the first set. The crowd was restless and a Frisbee was tossed around in the back of the room as several hula-hoopers were spinning their hoops in time with the setbreak music. A random head walked up to Freddy in the taper’s section and asked him for a copy of the night’s show in trade for some stickers, blank cassettes, and other lot items. Freddy accepted the trade simply because one of the stickers was the Love Tractor road-sign sticker which featured a Widespread Panic fan driving a tractor and running over a hula-hooper. Howling in the taper’s section with laughter, Freddy gave the guy his address and said he would be glad to make him copies if he sent blank tapes. The days of trading tapes are long gone with digital downloads, but back then, that was the quickest way: offer blanks and postage and some kind of “kind trade.”

The second set was another exciting offering from the boys from Athens, Georgia, featuring a perfect example of a “sandwich of songs:” “Driving Song” segued into “Papa’s Home;” “Papa’s Home segued into a small drum solo before concluding itself; and finally “Papa’s Home” segued back into the last verse and jam section of “Driving Song.” This tasty sandwich was followed by another sandwich of “Proving Ground” segueing into “Flat Foot Flewzy” and then back into “Proving Ground.” The band left the stage for the encore break and the crowd went completely crazy. Freddy’s gang started talking about the encore selection and all felt like there was going to be something special in the encore: Beau was adamant that it would be a slow song like City of Dreams (tipping the hat to Park City) followed by a rocking song like “Coconuts;” Jeremy said he thought they were going to play “Dream Song” followed by “Postcard;” and Freddy said he thought “Chilly Water” was the pick as the whole group shared their personal picks and presented their reasoning for choosing each song.

During the encore break, Wayne and Garrie brought out another microphone and guitar on a stand and set them up next to JB’s area which proceeded to get everyone screaming louder than they already were screaming. Jerry Joseph walked out on stage with the band and got ready for a raucous guest appearance on the song “Climb to Safety.” This song’s appearance threw Freddy’s group off target because not one of them had thought about a guest appearance from the band’s longtime friend. Already sweating from a smoking show, the crowd roared in approval and the band launched into a rowdy version that had everyone going completely nuts. When “Climb to Safety” segued into “Chilly Water,” Freddy looked around at his friends and got high-fives from anyone close by.

Nothing like “calling the song!”

Nothing like a hometown Widespread Panic show!!