Gene Ween Collaborates With Umphreys McGee At Summer Camp
By Scott Bernstein May 23, 2015 • 7:30 am PDT
The most anticipated set of the day and perhaps the festival found Umphrey’s McGee playing under the “Godboner” moniker for a set that focused on the Chicago rockers backing Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman. Umphrey’s had twice previously covered songs from Ween’s repertoire, once performing “It’s Gonna Be A Long Night” in 2008 and “Freedom of ‘76” in 2012. The band also worked “It’s Gonna Be A Long Night” into the “Ace Of Long Nights” mash-up debuted October 27, 2012 in Milwaukee which came weeks after Gene had accused Ween of turning into “some Umphries McGee (sic) bullshit.” Guitarist Brendan Bayliss responded by saying “that was some Umphrey’s McGee bullshit” into the mic after UM debuted “Ace Of Long Nights.” For his part, Freeman later said Umphrey’s was just a name that “popped into his head” during his “UM bullshit” rant.
Following their first set of the day, which included the second-ever rendition of new original “Remind Me” debuted during the Raw Stewage quarter at UMBowl earlier this month, Umphrey’s returned to the Sunshine Stage to begin the “Godboner Meets Gene Ween” set by themselves with “Puppet String” and “JaJunk.” Gener then came in to lead the group on a string of Ween classics and a Billy Joel cover. The collaboration started with “The Grobe” off 2000’s White Pepper which featured a slew of shredding from guitarist Jake Cinninger. “Even If You Don’t,” another song from Ween’s White Pepper LP, started with a perky piano solo by Joel Cummins. The biggest surprise came next as Gener fronted Umphrey’s on “Japanese Cowboy,” a song from 12 Golden Country Greats Ween hasn’t performed since 1996. Aaron started off “Spinal Meningitis” by saying, “I’m Gene Ween and this is the boner. We are the Godboner. This next song is called ‘Spinal Meningitis.’ A sad story and a beautiful story all at the same time.”
While Gener had some issues with the key at the beginning of “Baby Bitch,” he wisely realized the error and had the band start over. He completed the powerful ballad without incident and told the crowd, “These fucking guys man. We rehearsed yesterday for like a half-hour. Pinpoint!” about how tight the renditions UM worked up were. Gene Ween and Umphrey’s then rolled through “Take Me Away” from 1994’s Chocolate & Cheese and busted out a cover of Billy Joel’s “The Stranger.” Umphrey’s usually plays “The Stranger” about once a year, while Freeman has been covering the song at his “Gene Ween Does Billy Joel” shows so it was a good fit. From there, the set came to a close with the trifecta of “Voodoo Lady,” “Freedom of ’76” and “Transdermal Celebration.” When Umphrey’s came back, sans Gener, for their final set of Friday, they focused on the jams with a 20-minute “Bridgeless” and a 13-minute “Booth Love” kicking off a third set that also featured improv-heavy takes on “Utopian Fir” and “The Triple Wide.”
moe. played their first two sets of Summer Camp ’15 on Friday. The band kicked off the action on the Moonshine Stage early in the day and then played a late night set in the Red Barn. While moe. usually uses pre-written setlists to at least somewhat guide what they’ll play, they went without a setlist for the late night set which led to plenty of jamming. They were joined by Turbo Suit sax man Nicolas Gerach on a segment dubbed “Saxophone Love” and took Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” for a spacey turn. Other key moments from Friday at Summer Camp included Future Rock’s Daft Punk tribute, STS9 closing out the Sunshine Stage with a set that included bassist Victor Wooten sitting in on “Gobnuggett” and Keller Williams and Grateful Grass on the Moonshine Stage. Summer Camp continues today with sets from moe., UM, theNEWDEAL, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead and many others.
Watch fan-shot footage of Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman and Umphrey’s McGee teaming on “Baby Bitch,” “Take Me Away” and “The Stranger” thanks shinepigeon:
Umphrey’s McGee Setlist (via The Bort)
Set One: Goonville > Mulche’s Odyssey, Educated Guess, No Diablo, Tribute to the Spinal Shaft > Remind Me, Bad Friday
Set Two: Puppet String, Jajunk, The Grobe[1], Even If You Don’t[1], Japanese Cowboy[1], Spinal Meningitis[1], Baby Bitch[1], Take Me Away[1], The Stranger[2], Voodoo Lady[1], Freedom of ’76[3], Transdermal Celebration[1]
Set Thre: Bridgeless, Booth Love > Phil’s Farm > Upward > Phil’s Farm, Utopian Fir > The Triple Wide
Encore: Slacker
[1] Debut, w/ Geen Ween
[2] Billy Joel, w/ Geen Ween; LTP 03/21/2014 (124 shows)
[3] Ween, w/ Geen Ween; LTP 02/11/2012 (355 shows)
moe. Setlist (via moe. Facebook)
Moonshine Stage
Set: Spine Of A Dog > Buster > Jazz Wank > Spaz Medicine, Captain America > Annihilation Blues > Smoke, Chromatic Nightmare, Billy Goat
Red Barn Late Night:
Set: Jam > Seat Of My Pants > Barn Groove > Interstellar Overdrive > Saxophone Love, Threw It All Away > Bear Song
