New Orleans Day 2

Friday was the first show, and I spent the first part of the day double, triple, and quadruple checking ticket lists and website information for the evenings show. iClips.net was going to be on hand filming the show for a live stream set to feed through our site. Brushing up on my Javascript and page-building abilities, I made sure a player and stream were up and running to give fans on them there inter-webs a chance to see the band's sold out performance.

All along 20 minute drive to the venue, I could see a city still with many scars and wounds to heal from the Hurricane only 3 years ago. One particular example, The UNO Lakefront Arena (the scene for the weekend's shows) still had yet to replace their shredded sign on the roadside. All respect to the city and its inhabitants, one can't blame the city when half of its population still has not returned.

I was still nursing a hangover by the time I got to the venue at 2pm, but it did little to phase me. I couldn't wait to see what the band had in store for the evening. By tradition, Widespread Panic's Halloween show(s) features cover songs never performed by the band before that night--and most of the time never played again. On top of that, the band members always dress up in costumes along with most everyone in attendance.

The theme of the night for the stage, crew, and band was "Night of the Living Dead". I'll let some photos I took give you an idea:

It ended up being a very cool night with a handful of cover songs: "Mama Kin" (Aerosmith), "Baby Please Don't Go" (Lots of People), "Born on the Bayou" (CCR), "Time Waits for No One" (Stones), "Proud Mary" (Fogerty), and "Brown Sugar" (Stones). Third Day in NOLA (and one that I won't soon forget) to come...