Widespread Panic's new live disc borrows laid-back grooves from the Allman Brothers and Phish, and spices them up under the influence of a receptive audience whose hoots and hollers sometimes sound like they're prompted by cue-cards. "Light Fuse Get Away" recalls some of the rock era's best live efforts in terms of sheer inspiration and escape.
The free-form guitar explorations into jazz and rock on tracks like "Conrad" and "Impossible/Jam" soar high but never so far that the rest of band is left behind. The solid groove-melody of "Papa Legba" powerfully meshes with Latin-inspired percussion, and the funky beat of "Rebirtha" weaves in and out of banging piano runs and fluid, fiery guitar leads for one heck of a party blaze.
Texturally vast but not overloaded, "Light Fuse Get Away" is one of the finer live efforts to come forth in a long time and a good introduction for anyone unfamiliar with Widespread Panic.
