Umphrey’s McGee Debuts The Who Cover At Red Rocks

On Saturday, Umphrey’s McGee headlined the second of two consecutive nights at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. The show saw the band’s guitarists employ acoustic guitars in the first set, extended improvisation sequences in the second set and the debut cover of a classic The Who song as part of the encore.

After opening performances by The Main Squeeze and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, the sextet took the stage for the first of two headlining sets. The first half began with “Attachments” and the instrumental “Kabump.” A couple songs later Brendan Bayliss took up an acoustic guitar to play their recently debuted new single “Gone For Good” and the Led Zeppelin favorite “That’s The Way.” UM paired a couple of their longtime staples “Out Of Order” and “All In Time” to close out the set.

Set two kicked off with “Preamble” > “Mantis,” the latter of which featured Cinninger joining Joel Cummins at the keyboards. The second half also saw extensive jams inside “Hindsight,” as well as the following “August” that included Bayliss improvising lyrics. A typically expansive version of “Hurt Bird Bath” closed out the the set. The encore was initiated with often played UM original “Much Obliged.” Toward the end of the song Cinninger stepped to the mic with a harmonica that led into the intro to The Who’s “Join Together,” which was the first time Umphrey’s played the well-known hit with drummer Kris Myers handling lead vocals. Below is audience-shot footage of last night’s concert.

[That’s The Way | Captured by dsghoul]

[In The Black (partial) | Captured by Nathaniel Lutes]

Setlist (via All Things Umphrey’s)

Set One: Attachments, Kabump [1], In The Black, Example 1, Gone for Good [2], That’s the Way [2], Out Of Order > All In Time

Set Two: Preamble > Mantis [3] > Make It Right, The Triple Wide > Puppet String, Hindsight, August [4] > Hurt Bird Bath

Encore: Much Obliged > Join Together [5]

• [1] with One Nation Under a Groove (Funkadelic) teases
• [2] with Brendan on acoustic
• [3] with Jake on keys; unfinished
• [4] “Jimmy Stewart” with lyrics; unfinished
• [5] debut, The Who; with Jake on harmonica