Umphrey’s McGee Scores Big Bringing Interactive UMBowl X To Boston

Eyes were on Boston’s House of Blues this weekend as Umphrey’s McGee brought the 10th edition of their UMBowl celebration to Beantown.

There was a lot of excitement leading up to the two-night stand, especially since the shows were initially slated to take place in October 2023, but resulted in a postponement due to drummer Kris Myers’ shoulder surgery.

Fans were primed and ready as the band took the stage for the first of six sets – with lots of fun shtick and participation ahead, UM opted to deliver us “Band’s Choice” first, the lone “regular” set of the weekend.

Leading off with “Staircase,” the sextet embarked on a funk journey with excellent Vintage Vibe electric piano work from keyboardist Joel Cummins before the improv made a blissy pivot around the 10-minute mark. Guitarists Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger wove intricate and gorgeous melodies around each other, delivering a strong opening peak.

Not finished just yet, Myers led a transition into another staccato funk jam, where bassist Ryan Stasik’s heavy tone informed many stank faces throughout the room. Cinninger utilized some descending siren-like sweeps as “Staircase” floated out into space atop more Vibe work from Cummins, transitioning into the beginning of “40’s Theme” with chunky guitar work.

The band navigated the proggy composition with ease and executed a second blistering peak in as many songs, before Bayliss took a moment to welcome the crowd to the UMBowl celebration, noting “We’re doing a bunch of stuff for you, but we’re being selfish and this set is what we want.”

“Bridgeless” came next and continued the deep funk theme of the first set’s jams, this time with heavy contributions from percussionist Andy Farag. A jazzy take on “The Triple Wide” was the meat of the sandwich with incredible Herbie Hancock-like stabs from Cummins through the jam before a return to “Bridgeless” closed out the set.

A brief set break later, UM returned to the stage for the classic “Stew Art” set, an all-improv hour formed out of on-the-fly prompts submitted by fans.

The first on the screen was “Drums and Brace Yourself,” egging Myers into a propulsive beat. Stasik quickly jumped on board as the aggressive motif developed into some classic Umphrey’s jamming.

Next up was “Party on a Beach in Morocco,” another Myers-led segment where he and Farag focused on Eastern-feeling toms and vibes while Cummins laid down a thick layer of electric piano. You could almost feel the sweltering heat and distinctive tone of a Moroccan beach – 2 for 2 so far on crowd submissions.

“Sludge and Dub” – a play on UM song “Sludge and Death” – saw Bayliss take to the mic with some wild delays as the band hit into a dark and electronic reggae space. Cinninger’s guitar tone became all-encompassing as he unleashed powerful chords on the space. Cummins came in with some wiggly Prophet synthesizer leads later on in the tune before the next prompt was pulled.

“Jake Conducts” showed up on the screen and the guitarist wasted no time before beginning to use UM’s intricate system of hand signals to control his bandmates. Starting with a repetitive kick drum from Myers, Bayliss and Stasik were instructed to initiate a repeating motif for the whole band to jam around. Satisfied with the groove, Cinninger took a wild solo that ended in a brief rhythm-section deconstruction. Cueing the next idea, we got brief infusions of blues, bluegrass picking, and funk before wrapping it up.

My personal highlight of the set came with “Medeski, Martin, & Umphrey’s,” a five-minute segment that saw the band jam in a very different style than normal. Cummins especially got to use a much more percussive organ tone and play in a more aggressive style – very much in line with John Medeski’s signature approach. The two guitarists locked in on some Scofield-style riffing, throwing in teases of UM tunes “All in Time,” “Q*bert,” and “Mail Package.” HIGHLY recommend a listen of this track.

Lighting director Ben Factor was given the lead for the next segment, “Follow the Ben,” and the musicians traversed through spacey and rocking territory to hit some classic UM funk ahead of the transition into “Just Learned How to Play Last Week.” This was a pretty entertaining few minutes as the virtuosic musicians attempted to dumb down their playing – something they couldn’t really do.

“Chicago Subway at Midnight” – some fans pointed out that the largely elevated train is called the “L” in the Windy City – featured some spooky textures before Myers blew through the station with a propulsive beat. Synths dominated before “1 String Only” picked up the energy. Bayliss, Cinninger, and Stasik made great use of their restriction through a high-speed chase vibe (possibly some foreshadowing for the following night’s movie clips) before the set fully began to dissolve into hilarity with full-band keyboard and drum jams.

Bayliss was given the opportunity to perform his “favorite song” next, and opted for a solo rendition of “Puff the Magic Dragon” – with some extra raunchy lyrics of his own. “Daring Escape” then closed the set with some more heart-pounding, fast-paced jamming.

“All Night Wrong” was the theme for Friday’s third set – fans had the opportunity to vote from a list of genre-spanning covers in advance of UMBowl and the band played the top-ranking eight songs.

Leading off with “Roundabout” by Yes, Myers took the lead vocal on the classic tune as the band showed off their trademark polish and precision on the complex composition. Played for the first time since September 3, 2020, and breaking a gap of 257 shows, it was a treat for all to hear as smiles abound throughout the room.

While the crowd reaction to the set opener was big, the excitement for the opening of Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne” was off the charts – breaking a 537-show gap since its last play on March 11, 2017. Cummins remarked the following day about the band’s excitement to get to jam out this song – and they approached it with ferocity, breaking free of the structure to deliver a screaming peak and a little bit of Cinninger-led ambiance to close it out.

The bulk of the set came with some ‘80s and ‘90s heavy hitters, beginning with Stone Temple Pilots’ “Plush,” played for the first time since May 19, 2018 – a gap of 432 shows. The first UM play of Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” since 2022 led to another massive bustout in “Hunger Strike,” coming out of a 520-show gap for its first appearance since May 18, 2017.

Cummins did an excellent job of handling Ozzy Osbourne lyrics on “No More Tears” before Bayliss invited Farag’s alter ego of Cousin Eli to front the band on “Big Poppa” for the first time in over 100 shows, while imagery of the percussionist’s younger self was displayed on the rear screen.

Finishing up the cover-heavy night was an encore of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer,” yet another perfect call for the band’s heavy sound before they thanked us and sent us off into the Boston night.

UMBowl night two began with a set of loosely improvised scores to scenes from iconic films – again voted by fans in advance of the shows. UM started the set with an overture of sorts, a triumphant yet eerie space while a montage of movie clips was displayed on the screen behind the band. Each musician contributed beautifully to the “History of Movies” segment with a collective moment of glory before jumping into the meat of the set.

I’m going to preface the recap of this set by saying that you really can’t get the full effect of the music without watching the scenes at the same time – the webcast is available for a limited time on demand to nugs.net subscribers, so you should DEFINITELY check it out.

Beginning with an old-school pick in Nosferatu, an appropriately dark and eerie space was developed with heavy amounts of reverb from anyone capable of using it. Cummins utilized his Moog Voyager synth for haunting lead tones before Cinninger took the lead on a heavily distorted guitar. For much of the set, Bayliss stuck to a more textural role and could be seen fiddling with knobs on his pedalboard throughout the various scenes.

A big chase scene from Mad Max: Fury Road was the next movie on deck and featured some pre-planned changes that took it from all-out shredding to more major-key themes, all the while suiting the energy of what was happening on the screen in the massive desert landing. Progressively getting more chaotic toward the end as the action peaked, the music dissolved into a cloud of dissonance in time with the cars heading into a massive sandstorm in the film.

The iconic dance scene from Pulp Fiction came next and entered with a mysterious and groovy mood as the characters readied themselves on screen. At the beginning of the actual dance, Myers kicked into a steady beat – perfectly synced with the film – as Cinninger threw in some surf-rock riffs.

Next came my personal highlight of the set – the huge police chase from The Blues Brothers. Infusing the expected blues-rock vibe of the movie with their heavier, proggy-er UM sound, the band initially embarked on a driving groove. In tandem with the massive pileup of police cars and various other crashes happening on screen, the band broke from the chase music for moments of chaos and dissonance, always picking right back up as soon as our eyes were on Jake and Elwood.

An incredibly haunting few minutes came with a clip from Pan’s Labyrinth, though it felt more like a stopping point on the way to Interstellar, where UM opened up into a space-age jam. Cinninger’s guitar leads hinted at “Also Sprach Zarathustra” at times and Cummins’ Prophet contributions were an essential part of this segment.

Caddyshack and its pool scene followed as the band infused some funk grooves into the set. Cummins laid down pitch-bent chords on his Mellotron through the upbeat scene, culminating in a Jaws-like jam as the suspicious-looking chocolate bar bobbed through the water.

Finally, Umphrey’s closed the film set with Kill Bill: Volume I and its massive samurai fight scene, once again masterfully crafting music to go along with the visuals. I once again urge you to watch this set – words absolutely cannot do it justice.

Saturday’s second set was “All New,” featuring a debut of a cover, original, mashup, and a special song made up of past jam segments.

Beginning with Dire Straits’ “Sultans of Swing,” Bayliss took the musical lead while Cinninger sang the song, a cool flip from their conventional roles in the band. UM took the classic rock anthem for an excellent jamming excursion, dropping into an ambient half-time space that showed a real commitment to patience and quieter dynamics for its duration. Cummins’ Vibe work acted as an excellent foundation for Cinninger’s leads as Myers uncharacteristically hung back for a while, letting the other musicians craft a soaring peak motif out of the murk.

The euphoria faded into some grimy Plinko action with Cinninger still at the head as lighting designer Factor threw visuals of flames on the screen, informing a smooth transition into heavier play.

A gentle opening guitar solo by Cinninger informed the debut of “Concessions,” a song born out of fan-voted jam segments from the January 18, 2014 “1348,” September 14, 2007 “Nemo,” and January 14, 2023 “The Silent Type.”

The anthemic song kept the energy of the set high – switching between some reggae vibes and some seriously aggressive work and excellent three-part vocal harmonies. The resulting jam saw UM descend into a synthed-out space led by Myer’ massive cymbal textures and Cummins’ Prophet, while Cinninger peppered in computerized guitar riffs – all drenched in a heavy layer of reverb.

It seemed at first as if the band was heading for a darker mode, but quickly flipped the switch into a major-key space that seemed to open a breeze through the venue, the sort of jam that makes you want to close your eyes and just bask in the vibe.

The energy gradually picked up from there and hit a towering bliss peak ahead of a return to the chorus of “Concessions.”

The next new song was the live debut of the funky “Work Sauce” off UM’s 2022 album Asking For a Friend, featuring excellent visuals of the album art as a backdrop. Cummins’ Vibe work was especially prevalent here as he and Cinninger traded jazzy riffs and stabs. The song faded away with some ring-modulated electric piano – one of my favorite effects.

Bayliss then asked the crowd to get down low before the start of the next song – a mashup of “Jump Around,” “House of Glass,” and “The Less I Know the Better” – titled “House of Better Glass.”

Farag handled the rapped verses of “Jump Around” while Bayliss’ falsetto took the lead on the Blondie vocals and Myers went for the Tame Impala lines. It was an incredibly well-done mashup and had the audience dancing and singing along to the switches between tunes. I have a feeling this won’t be the last time we see this in an Umphrey’s setlist.

For the third set, fans had the opportunity to vote in real-time polls to decide what the band would play. The first one was between “1348” and “Escape Goat,” with the former winning handily – and we were off.

A quick jaunt through some machine funk saw “Glory” beat both “Kula” and “Kimble” for the next tune, as Stasik really dug into some octaved bass and Cummins went back into his aggressive Medeski toolkit.

The band paused before the next song as the poll between “Miami Virtue” and “Bad Friday” locked at 50/50. Bayliss left it up to the ASL interpreter when neither song pulled ahead, who chose “Bad Friday.”

Disco vibes and another frothing peak saw “Night Nurse” take a huge victory over “Day Nurse,” followed by a Moog-led “Making Flippy Floppy” that won over its Talking Heads counterpart “Girlfriend Is Better” (note: I did not agree with the result of this poll).

“Plunger” won the final poll of the night as the band finished set number six – an impressive feat and one that left them and the crowd visibly exhausted.

The encore returned to the land of film for an amazing rendition of the Top Gun theme before the weekend closed with the ending of “1348.”

Throughout two nights, UM demonstrated their limitless creativity and commitment to keeping the crowd involved and engaged with over six hours of music and fun. While it was my first UMBowl experience, this is now an event I would like to attend in future years as the band tries out new ideas and tricks.

Umphrey’s returns to the road in May for some shows in the Midwest.

Setlists (via All Things UM)

April 26

Set One: Staircase > 40’s Theme, Bridgeless > The Triple Wide > Bridgeless

Set Two: Stew Art Event

Set Three: Roundabout, Kid Charlemagne > Plush, Cult of Personality, Hunger Strike > No More Tears, Big Poppa[1]

Encore: Tom Sawyer

Notes:

• [1] with Andy on vocals
• last Roundabout 2020-09-03 (257 shows)
• last Kid Charlemagne 2017-03-11 (537 shows)
• last Plush 2018-05-19 (432 shows)
• last Hunger Strike 2017-05-18 (520 shows)

First set was “Band’s Choice”

Second set was a Stew Art event: Drum and brace yourself > Party on a beach in Morocco > Sludge and dub > Jake conducts > Medeski, Martin & Umphrey’s [with All In Time, Q*Bert, and Mail Package teases] > Follow the Ben > Lights dictate the jam > Just learned how to play last week > Chicago Subway at Midnight > 1 string only, Everyone on keys, Now the drums!, Play your favorite song [performed as Puff the Magic Dragon (Peter, Paul and Mary)], Daring Escape

Third set was an All Night Wrong cover set

---

April 27

Set One: History of movies, Nosferatu, Mad Max: Fury Road, Pulp Fiction, The Blues Brothers, Pan s Labyrinth, Interstellar, Caddyshack, Kill Bill: Volume 1

Set Two: Sultans of Swing[1] > Concessions[2], Work Sauce[2], House of Better Glass[3]

Set Three: 1348[4] > Glory > Bad Friday > Night Nurse > Making Flippy Floppy, Plunger

Encore: Top Gun Anthem[5] > 1348

Notes:

• [1] debut, Dire Straits
• [2] debut, original
• [3] debut, Jump Around (House of Pain) + House of Glass (Blondie) + The Less I Know the Better (Tame Impala) mash-up
• [4] with Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (Michael Jackson) and Simple Gifts (Brackett) teases
• [5] debut, Faltermeyer

First set was “Live Scoring Set,” with the band performing original music to movie clips

Second set was “All New,” with the debut of every song; Concessions comprised of past “Jimmy Stewarts” [2014-01-18 1348 + 2007-09-14 Nemo + 2023-01-14 The Silent Type]

Third set was “choose your own adventure,” with attendees voting for the next “adventure” live: 1348 or Escape Goat; Glory >, Kula >, or Kimble >; Miami Virtue or Bad Friday; Day Nurse or Night Nurse; Making Flippy Floppy or Girlfriend Is Better; Educated Guess, Plunger, or Maybe Someday

Top Gun Anthem was played along with clips from the movie; prior to the encore, Brendan quoted Puff the Magic Dragon (Peter, Paul and Mary) followed by Ryan taking Brendan’s acoustic guitar and smashing it on the stage