Umphreys McGee 2,000 | Cover Debut, Guest & Many Bustouts

Jam stalwarts Umphrey’s McGee played show #2,000 on Saturday night at The Orpheum in Madison, Wisconsin and worked all of the elements that brought them to the historic occasion into two lengthy sets and an encore. There were plenty of bustouts, a guest spot from an old friend, a cover debut and a handful of hearty jams delivered to a capacity crowd in Madtown.

2k #umphreys

A photo posted by abby [fox] matthews (@atmosfox) on Nov 11, 2014 at 8:21pm PST

The show started with a performance of one of the band’s signature songs, “All In Time,” and ended hours later with the end of the classic UM tune. Show #2,000’s first huge surprise was a cover of Bob Marley’s “Walk The Proud Land,” which returned to action after a whopping layoff of 1,465 shows (last time played -December 13, 2002). Another relative bustout, “Uncommon,” last played 81 shows ago on March 5, followed. “Hurt Bird Bath” gave the band their first chance to stretch their improvisational muscles and UM turned in a fine performance of the song. The sextet worked teases of the long-lost “Muffburger Sandwich” into “Similar Skin” and then embarked on the rare instrumental “All Things Ninja” before ending the set with an “August” that featured golden oldie “The Other Side Of Things” in the middle. “TOSOT” had only been played once since 2001 (April 28, 2012) until show #2,000.

Umphrey’s came out of the gates with “Mulche’s Odyssey” to kick off the second set and then launched into the classic instrumental “Kimble.” Another huge surprise, the UM debut of “Where Is My Mind?” by The Pixies, came next. “40’s Theme” then led into fan-favorite “Front Porch.” Saxophonist Kevin Sinclair (God Johnson), a long-time friend of the band, who’s performed with them many times over the years, emerged for just the second-ever “1000 Places To See Before You Die” and “Bad Friday.” The bustouts continued as UM worked a verse of “G-Song” into the “Slacker” second set closer. “G-Song” had only been played once since 2000 and that version, from 2008, was a crew jam. For the timely encore, the sextet brought back Sinclair for a cover of Miles Davis’ “It’s About That Time” that gave way to the conclusion of “All In Time.” All in all, Umphrey’s 2,000th show contained three songs that hadn’t been performed in at least 750 shows (“Walk The Proud Land,” “1000 Places To See Before You Die” and “G-Song”).

A webcast of last night’s show is being replayed for a limited time via TourGigs. Next up for Umphrey’s McGee are a pair of performances at Bear Creek Music & Art Festival in Live Oak, Florida.

Setlist

Set One: All In Time > The Linear[1] > Walk the Proud Land, Uncommon, Hurt Bird Bath, Similar Skin[2], All Things Ninja[3], August > The Other Side of Things[4] > August

Set Two: Mulche’s Odyssey > Kimble, Where Is My Mind?[5], 40’s Theme, Front Porch[6], 1000 Places to See Before You Die[7] -> Bad Friday[8], Slacker -> G-Song[4] -> Slacker

Encore: It’s About That Time[7] -> All In Time

[1] with Hajimemashite tease
[2] with Muffburger Sandwich teases
[3] with Jake on drums
[4] one verse
[5] debut, Pixies
[6] with Lose Yourself (Eminem) teases
[7] with Kevin Sinclair on saxophone
[8] with Kevin Sinclair on saxophone; with There’s No Crying In Mexico tease

Notes:
last Walk the Proud Land 12.13.2002 (1465 shows)
last The Other Side of Things 04.28.2012 (268 shows)
Support: The Revivalists

[Setlist via All Things Umphreys]