Umphrey's McGee - November 19, 2009 Mr. Smalls, Millvale, PA

This show was on a warm and lovely late November Thursday Night in Millvale. The show was sold out and jam packed (notice the double entendre). My friend's helped - Anita, Markus, cousin Fugate, Nadina and MattR. were present and accounted for. Umphrey's, being Umphrey's, opens with an old original song, not on any of their 7 studio albums, Syncopated Strangers. Nine minutes of what they do so well, incisive rhythms, brilliant staccato guitar, complicated multi-part mood shifts, heavy-delicate. Next song, Resolution, is yet another old original not on a studio recording - eighteen minutes of impressive shifts, two or three minutes in, they start playing with Norwegian Wood riffs, This goes on for many minutes, completely different in mood from the original Beatles song - Norwegian progressive jazz fusion Wood - then back to Resolution, into some funky improve territory, nice organ solo by Joel, eventually ending up in Voodoo Chile land about 13 minutes in, not really attempting a faithful version of this either, getting funkier as they go along. This flowed into Got Your Milk Right Here. An Ali Baba's Tahini song that Umphrey's plays regularly, a nice straight forward rocker with a nice chorus. An extremely faithful version of Dear Prudence comes next (with some sweet and tasteful guitar fills) - very nicely done. Rocker Part II starts mellow and weaves some delicate solos with occasional morphs into heavier sounds. After the vocals, this builds to an impressive guitar jam by the end of it's 11 minutes. Example 1, yes yet another example of an old original song not on a studio album. A Jazzy bouncy number that feels like an interlude but builds to some more impressive guitar feats. Seven songs and an hour into the show, Umphrey's breaks out a song that is actually on one of their studio albums, my favorite actually, Anchor Drops. Walletsworth starts heavy but morphs into a thoughtful, regretful ending. Andy's Last Beer from Local Band Does OK finishes the set. The band plays a little joke on the audience by getting us to clap on a song with a fractured time signature. Of course, it is a disaster, then Jake counts out time for us. 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2, 1234567. They finish with some out of control (not really), guitar solos by Janke and Brendan.

They open the second set with probably their one anthem rocker, Wine Women and Song from Saftey in Numbers. They pull it off nicely without Huey Lewis. They stretch it out quite a bit and get some sing along in the crowd. Hurt Bird Bath from Local Band Does OK stretched out seriously, totaling 19 minutes of many moods and improve madness. A reggae interlude in the middle was quite nice, heating up again about 14 minutes in and a hot prog improv finish. Spires was the only song played off of their newest album Mantis. An unusually straightforward rock song, concise, a nice place for it in the set. An old epic song followed, Wappy Sprayberry. This has an insistent beat. Pittsburgh native, bassist Ryan Stasik, got to show off some nice bass work in the middle of the song. Some dancy trancy heaviness follows. This song segued nicely into Kimble from the band's first album, Greatest Hits Volume III. Marcus requested this from his old friend, Joel Cummins, who co-wrote the song. Kimble has a lightness that was welcome at this point and some beautiful acoustic piano work in the second part of the song after a big guitar climax. A cover of Steely Dan's Show Biz Kids was quite a treat, only the second time the band has played this. The set closes with Smell the Mitten, yes yet another original without a studio recording. Incredible organ work from Mr. Cummins and a manic dash finishes the song. A generous encore followed with The Floor then 40's Theme. The Floor being relatively mellow building to a nice climax. 40's Theme is a prog improv extravaganza, 9 minutes of tight staccato insistence and hip hoppy vocals. The climax of the song being an incredible unison guitar jam, the likes of which no one else I have ever seen does.

Yet another incredible Umphrey's show, my eighth. They have never failed to impress, while each show has it's own feel. The theme of this show seemed to be, we don't feel like playing anything new or much that we have actually put on a studio album. This might be a problem for most bands, but not for Umphrey's. It started with Cinninger being emphasized. The second set provided Cummins with some great moments to shine. Though really the way this 6 wheeler can turn on a dime in terms of mood, time sigs, etc... makes you just shake your head and smile.

Thanks to Phantasy Tour for song info and the Live Internet Archive for streaming Timothy Brown's audience recording of this show. You can find this here:
http://www.archive.org/details/umphreysmcgee2009-11-19.akg463s.ps2.flac24