Panic in Paris!

In 1998, Melanie and I went to France for a holiday. We were dating at the time, but this was to be an important trip for us. Things were getting serious and this was our first real vacation together. We spent a few nights in Paris before renting a car and touring the Chateaux of the Loire River valley.

Widespread Panic happened to be in Paris...good planning 8-)...so we headed over to the Chesterfield Cafe to catch the show.
The Chesterfield was a small bar/cafe just off the Champs up near the Arc de Triomphe. There was no stage, just the band set up in a corner. The place was packed with no room to move. We wiggled our way up to the front, just a couple of feet from Mike Houser and settled in for an amazing show.

The band was ON from start to finish. I had made Melanie a mix tape of Panic tunes to introduce her to the music and they played 8 of the songs from the tape on this night...pretty good for a band with a repetoire in the hundreds. I was so happy that she knew most of the songs and could really get into the groove. We were dancing and sweating up a storm. It was blazingly hot in there. Every few songs one of us would squeeze our way up to the bar for a pitcher of beer. We'd drink half of it and dump the other half over our heads to cool off. Yeah, it was that kind of evening.

After the show we walked through the late night Parisien streets back to our hotel in a happy stupor. We knew that we were made to have these kind of adventures together.

The next afternoon we put together a nice picnic by visiting various shops over in the Latin Quarter. We had a nice bottle of wine, cheese, grapes, pate, pastry, and a bagguette. Once we were provisioned we hopped on the Metro and scooted over to the Eiffel Tower. We set up shop in the park at the base of the Tower and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon picnic. As the sun started to set I pulled out the ring and asked her to marry me. I gotta tell ya, it was a magical moment. I get chills just thinking about the memory.

She said yes and we have continued to have adventures together ever since!


For the record, here's the setlist from the show...
Widespread Panic
03/27/98 Chesterfield Café, Paris, FR
0: Let's Get Down To Business, Glory > Wondering > Help Me Somebody > Disco > Hatfield, Pickin' Up The Pieces, Stop-Go > Junior > Party At Your Mama's House, Drums > Don't Be Denied, Walkin' (For Your Love) > Love Tractor
E: Henry Parsons Died > Travelin' Light
['The Other One' jam before 'Love Tractor']
setlist courtesy of my friends at www.everydaycompanion.com