Widespread Panic is a band known for its “go with the flow” philosophy during performances.

Whether it’s the picked-on-the-spot mix of songs or witty on-stage antics, the band never plays the same show twice and doesn’t even know exactly what songs will be played on any given night.

And when Widespread Panic brings its show to Ames Friday, concertgoers can expect just about anything.

But that’s OK.

The point of a Widespread Panic show, as keyboard player/vocalist John Herman puts it, is “just playing.” It’s what they do best.

Every member comes to the show ready to play, but “nobody really knows what’s happening,” Herman said.

Herman recounted the story of the band’s worst show, which they played in Winston, Salem, in 1993.

“I got drunk and decided to play a piano solo with my feet while standing on the piano,” he said. “I flipped and crashed down.”

Despite being a somewhat negative experience for Herman, the situation shows part of the spontaneity that the band incorporates into its performances.

“On nights when it’s happening, it’s crackling and truly magical; on some nights, it’s a train wreck or the Titanic going down slowly, but the fact that each night is different is the key,” bassist Dave Schools said in a Capricorn Records press release.

Concertgoers will not find fancy lights or blazing stage effects at a Widespread Panic performance. The show consists of music in it’s purest and most vivid form.

“It’s all about dancing,” Herman said. “We’re not much to look at.”

While individual members of the audience become part of a single kinetic entity, the collaborative minds of Widespread Panic crash into a unique musical combination.

“We approach each other differently every time we play,” vocalist/guitarist John Bell said in a Capricorn Records press release.

The musicians’ interlocking endeavors into the unknown began in 1986, during the heyday of groups like Motley Crue and Poison.

While Widespread Panic’s music doesn’t directly sound like such bands, Herman feels that the band “took what [Motley Crue and Poison] did to a new level.”

This level continues to be surpassed as Widespread Panic adds to its experience.

Since the band’s birth out of Athens, Ga., the H.O.R.D.E. tour co-founders have released seven albums. The most recent, “Light Fuse Get Away,” features over two hours of live tunes.

On Oct. 6, a long-form home video titled “Panic in the Streets” arrived in stores nationwide. The video was recorded this past April, in Athens, as part of a free show celebrating the release of the new album.

The street festival drew in more than 100,000 people, making it the biggest album release party in history.