Brass & Bonham: Umphrey’s McGee Delivers Horn-Heavy Set & Led Zeppelin Tribute In New Orleans

On Tuesday, Umphrey’s McGee headlined the first night of the two-day Daze Between New Orleans 2025 event. The veteran jam sextet was joined by special guests saxophonist Jeff Coffin and trumpeter/vocalist Jennifer Hartswick towards the end of their first set and then delivered a Led Zeppelin tribute set accompanied by drummer Jason Bonham and vocalist James Dylan.

Live For Live Music, GMP Live, Purple Hat Productions and Dayglo Presents are presenting the fourth annual Daze Between New Orleans at the historic Mahalia Jackson Theater. lespecial opened the event with special guest Skerik. Next, moe. was augmented by the Dumpstaphunk Horns for a bulk of their set before UM closed out the action.

Umphrey’s McGee went it alone to start their first set with oldies “1348,” “Mail Package” and “JaJunk.” Coffin and Hartswick then added brass to a pairing of staples “Booth Love” and “Night Nurse.” A memorable horn-infused “Wife Soup” followed before Jennifer Hartswick reprised her appearance on Zonkey track “Electric Avenue To Hell.” The mashup mixing portions of the band’s “The Triple Wide” with elements of Eddy Grant’s 1982 hit “Electric Avenue” and AC/DC’s 1979 smash “Highway To Hell” hadn’t been performed since March 26, 2022 during the Röckjavik run — a gap of 252 shows.

Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham’s son Jason Bonham and Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening vocalist Jason Dylan teamed with Umphrey’s on their second set. The band and guests raged through 10 Led Zeppelin classics including “Immigrant Song,” “The Song Remains The Same,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “Kashmir,” “Ramble On” and more. “Fool In The Rain” — last played by UM 460 shows prior on January 11, 2019 — filled the six-slot.

Jason Bonham returned to his kit to complement Umphrey’s McGee on their “Conduit” encore. A livestream replay of the first day of Daze Between New Orleans 2025 and a webcast of today’s second day (The Headhunters, GEOLEO and The Allman Betts Band New Orleans Revival) can be viewed with a nugs.net All Access subscription.

Watch UM perform “Booth Love” with Jeff Coffin and Jennifer Hartswick and more clips below:

Setlist (via All Things UM)

Set One: 1348, Mail Package > JaJunk, Booth Love[1] > Night Nurse[1], Wife Soup[1], Electric Avenue to Hell[2]

Set Two: Immigrant Song[3], What Is and What Should Never Be[3], The Song Remains the Same[3], Whole Lotta Love[3], Kashmir[3], Fool in the Rain[3], No Quarter[3], Ramble On[4], How Many More Times[3], The Ocean[3]

Encore: Conduit[5]

Notes:

• [1] with Jeff Coffin on saxophone and Jennifer Hartswick on trumpet
• [2] with Jennifer Hartswick on vocals
• [3] with Jason Bonham on drums and James Dylan on vocals
• [4] with Jason Bonham on drums and James Dylan on vocals; with Third Stone From the Sun (Jimi Hendrix) tease
• [5] with Jason Bonham on drums

Show Notes:

• last Electric Avenue to Hell 2022-03-26 (252 shows)
• entire second set and encore without Kris
• with In the Light (Led Zeppelin) played over the PA before Immigrant Song
• last Fool in the Rain 2019-01-11 (460 shows)