Umphrey’s McGee Debuts Cover And Welcomes Anders Beck & Jennifer Hartswick At North Coast

Yesterday was a great day to be an Umphrey’s McGee fan from Chicago. The day started in the early morning hours with a late night show at the intimate Concord Music Hall, continued with a power-packed headlining set at the North Coast Music Festival in Union Park and concluded with the announcement the band will finally bring New Year’s back where it belongs, to The Windy City. UM’s North Coast set was all win as the sextet mixed heavy hitters with guest spots and even threw in a cover debut.

Umphrey’s McGee opened up with the Alan Parsons Project 1982 instrumental “Sirius,” which might be best known to Chicagoans as the song used to introduce the starting lineup of the Chicago Bulls during the team’s Michal Jordan years. “Sirius” gave way to “The Floor” ahead of fan-favorites “40’s Theme” and “In The Kitchen,” which gave the audience a plan to cheer at the Chicago mentions. Next up was the instrumental “Glory” featuring special guest Anders Beck of Greensky Bluegrass on dobro.

The high-octane set continued with “Wappy Sprayberry” > “Plunger” and the 2014 debuted underrated gem “Piranhas.” Umphrey’s ended the main set with a “Puppet String” sandwich complete with “Remind Me” and “August” filling. However UM wasn’t done yet. They returned to the stage for a rare three-song festival encore that included heavy hitters “The Triple Wide” and “Mulche’s Odyssey” as well as a huge bust out: the return of mash-up “Electric Avenue To Hell” which combines Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue,” AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell” and UM’s own “The Triple Wide.” Vocalist Jennifer Hartswick lent her vocal talents to the first “Electric Avenue To Hell” since October 31, 2013 – a span of 287 shows.

At first keyboardist Joel Cummins faked out fans by picking up on an old joke started years ago by fans on The Bort by announcing this year’s New Year’s Run would take place in Omaha, before revealing the run will actually take place in Chicago. Cummins later added on Twitter the UM NYE run will be held December 29 – 31 with a full announcement due later this week.

Watch “Glory” featuring Anders Beck:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ-uQItBrOA

Check out Hartswick adding to the bust out of “Electric Avenue To Hell”:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ-D_0_goqp/

Setlist (via All Things Umphreys)

One Set: Sirius[1] > The Floor, 40’s Theme, In The Kitchen > Glory[2], Wappy Sprayberry > Plunger, Piranhas, Puppet String > Remind Me, August > Puppet String

Encore: The Triple Wide, Electric Avenue to Hell[3], Mulche’s Odyssey

• [1] debut, Alan Parsons Project
• [2] with Anders Beck on dobro
• [3] with Jennifer Hartswick on vocals