Umphrey’s McGee Celebrates Brendan Bayliss’s 40th Birthday In Burlington
By Scott Bernstein Aug 12, 2016 • 7:08 am PDT
On Thursday night Umphrey’s McGee returned to the road for their latest series of summer dates. The band played the familiar confines of Higher Ground in South Burlington, Vermont on a date that happened to be guitarist Brendan Bayliss’s 40th birthday. UM celebrated with plenty of rarities. At one point the band held an on-stage toast to their founding guitarist and gave him a Cubs jersey:
“Lucid State” opened the action, making just its ninth appearance since it was debuted last summer at Red Rocks. Following “Educated Guess” came “Passing,” a Safety In Numbers rarity that had only been played twice in the past two years yet one of those renditions came just last weekend in Indianapolis. Later in the set, UM worked “Final Word” into “Syncopated Strangers.” Keyboardist Joel Cummins handled vocals normally sung by Bayliss for part of “Syncopated.” The evening’s biggest surprise came at the end of the first set, when the band dusted off a cover of Modest Mouse’s “The Good Times Are Killing Me.” Umphrey’s had only performed the cover once in the past, way back on April 28, 2012 at the first-ever Bill GrahUM show in Chicago – a span of 437 shows.
The six-piece opened the second set by fitting “Upward” within “JaJunk.” Another bust out came later in the set as “Crucial Taunt” reemerged after 205 shows. Well-jammed versions of “Utopian Fir” and “The Triple Wide” were connected by a rare cover of “Driven To Tears” by The Police. UM had one more treat left for the encore as they ended the night with “All In Time” > “Gravity’s Real” > “All In Time.” The middle section was based on the jam from the September 14th, 2012 “All In Time” that the band brought back for the 2013 installment of UMBowl. Outside of UMBowl, Umphrey’s only played “Gravity’s Real” one other time – on January 30, 2016. Next up for the band is a performance at Blue Hills Bank Pavilion in Boston tonight.
Watch UM bust out “The Good Times Are Killing Me” shot by Kyle Miller (H/T – Jambands.com):
Setlist (via The Bort)
Set One: Lucid State > Educated Guess, Passing, Domino Theory, Syncopated Strangers > Final Word > Syncopated Strangers [1], The Fussy Dutchman, Morning Song, Gone for Good, The Good Times are Killing Me [2]
Set Two: JaJunk > Upward > JaJunk, Loose Ends, Crucial Taunt [3], Utopian Fir > Driven to Tears > The Triple Wide
Encore: All in Time > Gravity’s Real > All in Time
- [1] Joel on lead vocals
- [2] Modest Mouse
- [3] LTP 7/3/2014 (205 shows)
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