Umphrey’s McGee Sells Out Red Rocks | Halloween Set For Boston

Umphrey’s McGee achieved a big feat on Saturday night, when they sold out the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO. The sextet treated the capacity crowd to a show featuring a career-spanning setlist that included guest spots and a pair of debuts.

Moon Taxi and The Motet kicked off the festivities with support sets on Saturday night. Umphrey’s came out of the gates with the debut of a new, proggy, instrumental intro -“Lucid State” and took to the mics for the “Conduit” that followed. “Cut The Cable” was the evening’s first offering off the recently-released Similar Skin and led into a dream sequence featuring “JaJunk,” “Ocean Billy” and “All In Time.” The band worked the “Gents” Raw Stewage segment from this year’s UMBowl within “Ocean Billy.” “End Of The Road,” an instrumental off Safety In Numbers, saw guitarist Jake Cinninger utilize Jerry Garcia’s Travis Bean TB500 guitar that was put up for auction in December. The first set came to a close with the live debut of Similar Skin track “Educated Guess” and a cover of Bob Seger’s “Hollywood Nights.”

The Chicago-based band’s second set began with a pair of Similar Skin songs, “Little Gift” and “Bridgeless” and continued with a version of “Bad Friday” that featured special guest Dominic Lalli of Big Gigantic on sax. Lengthy, improv-filled takes on “Dump City,” “Slacker” and “Wappy Sprayberry” led back into the end of “JaJunk.” When Umphrey’s returned for the encore they were joined by The Motet’s Gabe Mervine on trumpet, Matt Pitts on saxophone and Jans Ingber on vocals for a cover of The Band’s “Ophelia.” Umphrey’s then finished off the evening with a take on “Hajimemashite” that segued into the end of “Bridgeless.”

In other UM news, the band has revealed their plans for Halloween via Facebook and Twitter on Saturday night, just before they took the stage at Red Rocks. Umphrey’s McGee will present the “Monster Mash Halloween Bash” at the House Of Blues in Boston on October 31 and November 1. More details will be announced soon, though from the theme of the shows we’d expect the band to continue a tradition of debuting mashups during their Halloween run.

Here’s a look at the setlist from Umphrey’s sold out Red Rocks show:

Set One: Lucid State[1] > Conduit > Cut the Cable, JaJunk > Ocean Billy > Gents[2] > Ocean Billy, All In Time, End of the Road, Educated Guess[1], Hollywood Nights

Set Two: Little Gift, Bridgeless > Bad Friday[3], Dump City, Slacker, Wappy Sprayberry > JaJunk

Encore: Ophelia[4], Hajimemashite > Bridgeless

[1] debut, original
[2] partial
[3] with Dominic Lalli on saxophone
[4] with Gabe Mervine on trumpet, Matt Pitts on saxophone, and Jans Ingber on vocals

Support: Moon Taxi and The Motet

[Setlist via All Things Umphreys]