Billy Strings Joins Widespread Panic in Atlanta
Phish Turn in Night Two of New Year's Run at MSG
Relix Daily
December 30, 2025
December 30, 2025
RECAP
On December 29, Widespread Panic commenced the first of three concerts at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta. As part of their build to the New Year, the ensemble kept an ace up their collective sleeve, submitting a heavy offering of best-ofs while narrowing in on the guest artist’s formal introduction and arrival of bluegrass heavyweight and guitar hero, Billy Strings. The extended sit-in measured longer than Strings’ previous reunion with Widespread Panic, which occurred back in June, during the host’s Chicago Theatre run, with the musician trading in his typical acoustic axe for something a little more electric during Monday night’s on-stage exchange.
RECAP
Phish returned to Madison Square Garden on Monday, Dec. 29, to deliver the second performance in their long-awaited 2025 New Year’s Eve residency. After an electrifying kickoff on Sunday, which featured a reawakened run through “Sleep” and a sprawling “Theme from the Bottom,” the foundational jamband continued to raise the stakes for their 18th-annual year-end series at the World’s Most Famous Arena on night two.
The vault is open.
WATCH
In June, the 52nd annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival hosted the debut performance from the Toy Factory Project, a proper Southern rock supergroup honoring the late Toy Caldwell and the music of the Marshall Tucker Band. Now, as the ensemble prepares to take the stage again with a pair of dates at The Capitol Theatre in February, they’ve shared a full-show video of that unforgettable debut.
RECAP
The Disco Biscuits have kept busy over the past couple of nights. The pioneering trance-fusion ensemble returned to the stage after Christmas break for a series of concerts that served as the prelude to their two-night New Year’s Eve run at two Boston area locations, Royale (Dec. 30) and Roadrunner (Dec. 31). The first in a three-night sequence of shows, the band took their talents to the College Street Music Hall in New Haven, Conn., on Saturday, Dec. 27, followed by a gig at District Music Hall in Norwalk, Conn., on Sunday Dec. 28, and most recently, last night’s Tractorbeam set at The Sinclair in Cambridge, Mass.
NEWS
On Thursday, Dec. 18, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ board of trustees voted to rename the cultural institution as the Trump-Kennedy Center. In the weeks since, the artistic community has responded, with several performers booked for the prestigious venue now lodging their objections through cancellations.
NEWS
Dead on the Creek has outlined the participants for its 20th-anniversary gathering, slated to return on June 11-14, 2026, at Black Oak Ranch in Laytonville, Calif. The intimate gathering honoring the songs and legacy of the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia will feature artists and bands, including the Terrapin Family Band with Stu Allen and Elliott Peck.
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NEWS
Big Something will return to Raleigh, N.C.’s Lincoln Theatre from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2 for a four-night New Year’s Eve residency. The Burlington, N.C.-based alternative rock and jam outfit’s home state year-end series has been hotly anticipated as the culmination of a long year on the road and continuation of an annual tradition, which in 2024 brought a fistful of rarities and debut covers of Daft Punk, Tame Impala, The Four Seasons, Steve Earle, Dr. Dog, Ini Kamoze, Prince and more.
NEWS
On Friday, January 2, and Saturday, January 3, the Trouble No More band will arrive at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom to take over both sides of the notorious Denver venue and perform a celebration of the Allman Brothers Band, and fluctuate with added covers from the Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, and Tyler Childers.