First, let's come to grips with one thing... this isn't going to be the type of post that you're used to seeing emerge from this group. There will not be a ton of music videos, though I will post at the end one of my favorite songs by the band in discussion (though not at the venue in discussion, unfortunately... all searches for video from there have failed). Instead we're going to have a little chat... or a little rant, if you will. I'm deep into the six-pack, I have no curfew, and we're going to hash out this matter fully. So sit back like the Maxell Man and enjoy the ride...

My first concert of note really was Widespread Panic back at the Snow King Center in the winter of 1996. I was staying at my buddy Rob's house, where we got baked out of an elk-antler pipe before heading over to Jeremy's house... to get baked a second time.

We were listening to several song spoofs on Jeremy's computer -- my favorite being the mock of the Joan Osborne song, titled "What if God Smoked Cannabis?" -- and waiting for the show to start. Amongst friends I settled in to a chair, sinking back until we had to leave the warmth of the house into the winter chill.

We all had our tickets, and both these guys lived just on the mountainside from the concert hall that doubled as a hockey rink where I'd watched minor-league games over the past few years since its opening. We strolled down just before the band was to hit the stage, parking ourselves a few dozen rows back and dead center from the stage.

The show was electric, every note coursing through my body on an adrenaline rush I'd never quite felt from music before. I was parked at the base of the ski hill where I first took to the planks and learned the craft, and now I was learning a different lesson aurally and with every cell of my body...

That concert hall would play a major role in so many facets of my life -- a place to warm up and eat while skiing, a place to hear great music, a place to watch hockey and to play in its shadow on the outdoor rink below.

So in that spirit, let's hear one from Widespread Panic. As I said, I'd love for somebody to find one from Jackson Hole, but for now here's one of my favorite songs from the band...

I heard a lot of bands in that venue, but Widespread is always going to be the one that sticks best. I ended up seeing them multiple times there, every time spending the night in town instead of 40 miles north at my home on the resort in Grand Teton National Park.

Sometimes the best concerts you'll ever hear are in those same places where you'll find the greatest sports moments. The energy of both intersect when the crowd congregates on the arena...