UMBowl: Setlist and Recap
The first annual UMBowl lived up to the hype this past Saturday night as Umphrey’s McGee gave the fans what they wanted over the course of four “quarters” at the intimate Lincoln Hall in Chicago. There were bust outs galore, debuts and reworked versions of old classics as well as plenty of mash-ups. Quarter one featured the band on acoustic performing songs that were voted on by attendees and webcast viewers including the first-ever live version of the Safety In Numbers cut The Weight Around, the first-ever acoustic take on Hurt Bird Bath and a completely out of left field cover of Interstate Love Song by the Stone Temple Pilots.
A Humorous Video Introduced Each Quarter
For the second quarter, the Chicago-based sextet improvised on themes provided by fans through text messages. Before the first round of improv keyboardist Joel Cummins asked fans to text in mashup ideas and the attendees and webcast viewers responded with a number of good ideas including Bathtub Gin & Juice, Ocean Billie Jean and Cemetery Walk This Way. The second category given by Cummins was “Numbers, Colors and Shapes” and the final one was “Make Us Laugh” which led to such texts as The Folk Prince of Bel-Air and Reggae Titties and Beer.
Quarter three was an all-request electric set that saw the band dust off Muff II: The Revenge for the first time since 2002 and Muffburger Sandwich for the first time since 2005. Other treats included a dub version of Wife Soup and a funk-laden Der Bluten Kat sandwich with a Girlfriend Is Better filling.
READ ON for more on UMBowl and an extremely detailed setlist…
The final quarter was the “Choose Your Own Adventure” set in which attendees and webcast viewers voted on a list of three directions the band could go in. For instance, as the group took the stage three choices were given – Nothing Too Fancy, All In Time or Industrial Jam. The fans chose All In Time, so that’s what the band played. Towards the middle of All In Time, attendees and viewers were asked whether Umphrey’s should segue into a cover of Toto’s Africa, segue into the original Booth Love or continue the improv with a Metal Jam. Africa was the winner of that one. The voting continued throughout the quarter with the fans basically calling the shots all set long.
After four quarters you would’ve thought the encore – or Overtime as they called it – would’ve been a quicky, but instead Umphrey’s delivered one of their best mash-ups – Land of Wappy – a combination of the original Wappy Sprayberry with Land of Confusion by Genesis and Search and Destroy by Metallica. We’ll have more on UMBowl later this week. For now, here’s the setlist…
(8:17 EDT) Quarter One: Front Porch* > “Jimmy Stewart”** > Front Porch, Hurt Bird Bath > Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp$ > Hurt Bird Bath, #The Weight Around$$, Interstate Love Song% > Divisions (09:11)
ballot vote, acoustic
* with Resolution teases
** with lyrics
$ first time played, Led Zeppelin
# with false start
$$ with Jake on electric guitar; first time played, original
% first time played, Stone Temple Pilots(09:30) Quarter Two:
Mash Up Anything: ja junk funk > tool and jackson five > tribute to lady madonna > Bowie here come the mantis > cemetery walk this way > bathtub gin and juice > jimmy page against the machine > ocean billy jeanNumbers, Colors, and Shapes: 2×2 and one by metallica > mr BLUE sky > square wolf in London > electronic kitchen > search four the crooked one > rocketman lyrical stew > 13 days in the life
Make Us Laugh: the #1 d@@@ in a box > the bears o line > the folk prince of bel air > reggae titties & beer!!! (10:08)
(10:45) Quarter Three: Wife Soup*, Muff II: The Revenge, All Things Ninja, Red Room Disco**, Muffburger Sandwich, Der Bluten Kat$ > Girlfriend Is Better$$ > Der Bluten Kat$ (11:50)
ballot vote
* dub version
** first time played, original
$ funk version
$$ first time played, Talking Heads
last Muff II: The Revenge 08/28/02 (1005 shows)
las Muffburger Sandwich 04/28/05 (619 shows)(12:10) Quarter Four: All In Time* -> Africa > Techno jam > “Jimmy Stewart”**, 1348 > “Jimmy Stewart” > Funk jam > 1348, Comfortably Numb (01:04)
text vote
* unfinished
** Bredan and Jake rig switchOpening Play:
Nothing Too Fancy
All In Time
Industrial jamAll In Time segue into:
Africa
Booth Love
Metal jamAfrica segue into:
Hangover with Booty Wax
Techno jam
The LinearTechno jam segue into:
Gulf Stream
Bluegrass Jam
Brendan/Jake Rig Switchnext song:
Miss Tinkle’s Overture
Can’t Ya See
1348 with improv1348 “Jimmy Stewart” segue into:
Tortoise jam
Dub jam
Funk jamnext song:
finish All In Time
Conduit
Comfortably Numb(01:08) Overtime: Land of Wappy (01:23)
[Setlist compiled by DreamsofVenus]
Scott Bernstein
Scott Bernstein co-founded Hidden Track in October 2006 and was managing editor until taking over as EiC in January 2008. Scotty also writes for Relix Magazine and curates YEMblog.com.
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Completely epic. Can’t wait to listen to this one….
great show
band is en fuego…settin the bar real high
“Umphrey’s delivered one of their best mash-ups – Land of Wappy – a combination of the oiriginal Wappy Sprayberry with Land of Confusion by Genesis and Search and Destroy by Metallica.”
wow.