Umphrey’s McGee And STS9 Conclude Cruel Summer Tour In Virginia

Summer isn’t an easy touring season to find proper venues if your band can’t fill huge sheds. That’s why we see so many acts team with other acts for co-bills such as this summer’s The Black Crowes, Tedeschi-Trucks Band tour and Wilco, My Morning Jacket and Bob Dylan’s AmericanaramA tour. The just-completed STS9 / Umphrey’s McGee tour was a huge success on a number of levels. Both bands were able to expose their music to the other band’s fans, the shows were played in larger venues than either act generally plays leading to a bigger production and fans were treated to plenty of collaborations throughout the 14-show tour.

[Photo by Andrea Nusinov]

The STS9/UM tour came to a close on Sunday night at Wolftrap National Park For The Performing Arts in Vienna, VA. Umphrey’s took the stage first and offered a lengthy set that included a “The Floor” > “Hajimemashite” > “The Floor” sequence as well as a section which saw guitarists Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss play acoustics for “Susanah” and a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “That’s The Way.” STS9’s set included a “new” version of “Arigato” and Bayliss lending a hand on “Moon Socket.” To bring their tour to a finish, both bands shared the stage for the tour finale -a cover of Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer.”

Check Page Two for fan-shot video of “Cruel Summer” and more of Andrea’s photos.

Photos by Andrea Nusinov :

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