Umphrey’s McGee’s Brendan Bayliss Lays Down Tribute To Phil Lesh In Denver

Umphrey’s McGee continued their New Year’s Eve run on Sunday with their second of two shows at Denver’s Ogden Theatre. Guitarist Brendan Bayliss honored late Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh by performing a solo acoustic cover of “To Lay Me Down” at the start of the evening’s encore.

The Ogden hosted Umphrey’s McGee on Saturday and Sunday night for the band’s first full non-festival shows since September. The sextet will finish 2024 with a pair of sold-out concerts at the Boulder Theater tonight, December 30 and tomorrow, New Year’s Eve.

Umphrey’s began the second night of the run by delivering a 15-minute “Similar Skin.” Bayliss then traded his electric for an acoustic to play the first “Susanah,” a song from his 30db project with Jeff Austin, since August 19, 2023. The band followed with fan-favorite “All In Time.” UM left “All In Time” unfinished as they swerved into “Make It Right.”

The subsequent take on 2023 single “Staircase” bled into the Jake Cinninger showcase “Glory.” Umphrey’s tacked on “Small Strides” from their 2022 LP Asking For A Friend to end the first set.

An expansive version of “Concessions,” one of the band’s newest originals, opened the second set. The rest of the frame was devoted to classic material as “Plunger” followed along with “Mulche’s Odyssey,” “Nothing Too Fancy” and “In The Kitchen.” The latter led into the end of “All In Time.”

Brendan Bayliss returned for the encore and addressed the crowd. Bayliss spoke about Phil Lesh who died in October, noting:

“On behalf of everyone here at Umphrey’s McGee, I’d like to play this song and send out some love to Phil Lesh and his family. He was very good to us when we were young and talked a lot about us in interviews and gave us a lot of love. We appreciate it and we’re just going to send a little bit back now.”

The guitarist played a tender version of the Grateful Dead ballad “To Lay Me Down,” which was written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. Bayliss’ bandmates came back to close out the show with the raucous instrumental “Miss Tinkle’s Overture.”

A livestream replay of Sunday’s show can be viewed for free by nugs.net subscribers. Webcasts of the rest of the New Year’s Eve run are also available.

Watch pro-shot footage of UM’s “Similar Skin” opener below:

Setlist (via @UmphreysMcGee)

Set One: Similiar Skin, Susanah, All In Time > Make It Right, Staircase > Glory, Small Strides

Set Two: Concessions, Plunger > Mulche’s Odyssey, Nothing Too Fancy > In The Kitchen > All In Time

Encore: To Lay Me Down*, Miss Tinkle’s Overture

* – Brendan solo, Grateful Dead cover (First Time Played)