Having appeared at the festival a number of times since its start, Umphrey’s McGee earned themselves the post-Mule, late night Saturday slot at Mountain Jam 2011. The Chicago-based sextet welcomed four guests to the stage during a two-hour set that seemed focused on the sit-ins.
[Screenshot via iClips.net]
Opening with a jam dubbed “jazz odyssey” on the setlist, it’s actually a proggy instrumental that was debuted at Summer Camp and will eventually get a title all its own. Ocean Billy came next and had a hard rock-edged exploration that stood out as a highlight when the show was done. John Oates of Yacht Rock faves Hall & Oates was the only announced guest and he emerged after the new original Puppet String for Jake Cinninger’s Booth Love, a cover of Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions’ It’s All Right, the Bayliss-written classic Much Obliged as well as takes on The Chantays’ Pipeline and I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) by Hall & Oates. Oates took the lead on the guitar work throughout and sang ICGFT, even though Daryl Hall usually handles vocals at H&O performances.
Set: Jazz Odyssey, Ocean Billy, Puppet String, Booth Love^ > It’s All Right^^*, Much Obliged^% > Pipeline^ > I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)^^**, Mulche’s Odyssey, Slacker$, 1348 > “Jimmy Stewart”$$ > 1348
Encore: JaJunkNotes
late night on the West Stage
^ with John Oates on guitar
^^ with John Oates on vocals and guitar
* first time played, Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions
% unfinished
** first time played in full, Hall & Oates
$ with Warren Haynes on guitar
$$ with Zach Deputy on Drain My Snake jam; with Dan Kurtz (The New Deal) replacing Ryan on bass (while Ryan replaces Dan on another stage) for Home jam; with A Love Supreme jam[via Umphreys.com]
The second guest of the evening, festival host Warren Haynes, emerged following a romp through Mulche’s Odyssey for Slacker. A “Jimmy Stewart” saw New Deal bassist Kurtz replace UM’s Ryan Stasik for a jam on tND’s Home and Zach Deputy come out for a jam on his Drain My Snake before Umphrey’s gave us our second notable A Love Supreme jam of the weekend. The New Deal were playing a late night of their own on another Mountain Jam stage, where Stasik headed over to play Home with the remaining members of the Canadian jamtronica act. So, both the New Deal and Umphrey’s were jamming out Home at the same time with the other band’s bass player holding down the bottom line [thanks to Jefferson Waful for the info]. A quick version of JaJunk closed things out for Umphrey’s, who are now off the road until they kick off their summer tour on June 23 in Richmond, VA.
Mountain Jam continues as of press time with My Morning Jacket set to perform a set that will be webcast live over iClips starting at 7:30PM.
