Most jam bands today have a hard time building up the reputation that veterans Widespread Panic have done.

But people looking for a band to break down all the boundaries of conventional music should look past Widespread Panic.

Widespread Panic is certainly good at what it does — hard, free -form jamming in a very Southern-rock style.

It can only be described as putting the audience in a sort of “zone,” where the passing of time is unnoticable, and every person in the crowd is cohesively twisting and turning to the sound eminating from stage.

The band also seems to get into a “zone” of their own, considering they can take what would be a three- minute song on a CD and stretch it as long as twenty minutes.

The show Monday night at Stephens Auditorium, however, almost started on the wrong foot. To begin the first set, Panic played two fairly slow songs when the audience seemed to want to boogie.

This quickly ended though, when the upbeat “Tall Boy” found it’s way into the set.

The mood again quickly changed with the bluesy “Me and the Devil,” giving vocalist John Bell the opportunity to stretch his rhaspy, Tom Waits-like style.

The following songs proved to be a little more fascinating, when a jam on the tune “Diner” flawlessly transitioned into the happy love song “Walkin’ (for Your Love).”

While the first set continued to be upbeat the second set proved to be a bit more somber.

Such songs as “Hope in a Hopeless World,” “Raise the Roof,” and their take on Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home,” were enticing, but left the audinece stagnating in their “zone.”

However, when the band left the stage to let percussionist Domingo Ortiz utilize his Latin, samba chops, it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.

Ortiz went into a full Latin frenzy playing just about every hand percussion instrument he could find behind his extravagant setup.

His fifteen minute solo restored the auidince, bringing them back into dance stepping complete with hoots and hollers.

This was not enough for the crowd of 1,600 to give it their all when it came time for the encore.

But the band did come back to strum out the sweet ballad “Gradle.”

Although Widespread Panic plays the most incredible jams while putting its audience in that “zone,” the band doesn’t necessarily do much groundbreaking work.

Maybe that’s just how Widespread Panic want it. Maybe the band just wants to keep itself a good jam band. If that’s the case, Widespread Panic is playing its role perfectly.