UM/STS9 Cancel Final Gig
By Team JamBase Aug 4, 2008 • 2:00 pm PDT
Following intense rain, last night’s Umphrey’s McGee/STS9 tour closing show in Atlanta was cancelled. What follows is a note from the Umphrey’s fellas.
From blog.umphreys.com/cs/blogs/thefloor:
The last 24 hours have been eventful. Yesterday at this time everyone was resting up for the final show of the UM/STS9 tour, going about the proverbial ‘business as usual.’ About 20 minutes before the scheduled show time the band was talking over the set list when we finally accepted the fact that a heavy but brief storm was about to roll through downtown Atlanta. No problem we thought, we’ll just push back the start time 15-20 minutes once the heavy stuff passes. None of us were so lucky.
The massive lightening that danced around the Atlanta skyline hit two separate power transformers and knocked out electricity in much of the downtown area, including all of Masquerade Park. The winds blew so heavily that several of our lightning trusses came crashing to the ground along with a plethora of microphones and instruments. The integrity of the stage was compromised as one of the support towers showed signs of bowing once the rain began to collect in heavy pockets on the roof. Tarps proved no match for the wind gusts that filled them like kites. Darkness began to fall with out a single light on in the entire venue holding 4,000 people.
A team comprised of various personnel from UM, STS9, the show’s promoter and local production crews immediately began strategizing how we could still manage to pull off a show. Every scenario possible was considered and reconsidered. Jake and Brendan even contemplated pulling two acoustic guitars and sitting at the lip of the stage for an impromptu sing along but the stage wasn’t even deemed safe for that. Ultimately every scenario revealed itself impossible as the reality of a powerless venue sank further and further in. At that point, we were entirely dependent on the City of Atlanta and the electric company. It was frustrating for all of us as we couldn’t even make an announcement over the PA to loop the fans in on what info we had. We were all bummed that the run had to finish like this and we are already strategizing on how to make it up to all of you who tried to come out and support us.
With the venue empty and the stage pitch black, a generator finally showed up to provide some light for a uber s l o w load out. The power company finally got the electricity back on around 1:30 at which point most of us were already asleep trying to squeeze in as much rest as we could for our 6:00 a.m. bus ride to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport. We caught an 8:30 flight to lovely White Plains, NY before a 45 minute van ride to Bridgeport, CT for the Gathering of the Vibes festival. An hour of downtime in the hotel is a glorious respite at this point but I wanted to at least try to fill you in on yesterday’s happenings. Stay tuned for more odds and ends from the tour. We all had an outstanding time with STS9 and all of you that came out to catch a show or three. Plenty more pics, audio snippets, and general ramblings to come. I think everyone just needs a few days at home to catch up on some R&R.
Check out JamBase’s review of the UM/STS9 show from NYC last week here.
