Umphrey’s McGee Digs Deep In Columbus

Chicago six-piece Umphrey’s McGee returned to the road for their latest round of touring on Thursday night at Express Live! in Columbus, Ohio. UM has a huge repertoire and displayed its depths in Columbus, a show opened by home state band The Werks.

Fourteen of the 20 songs Umphrey’s played in Columbus hadn’t been performed in at least 10 shows and just two tunes had been played within the past three shows spanning back to Lockn’. This is just one way the band stands out from their jam scene peers as what went down with last night’s setlist wasn’t even all that special, that’s par for UM’s course.

Umphrey’s McGee opened with “Jekyll & Hyde,” an instrumental intro which had been on the shelf since February 11 – a span of 65 shows. Next up was the return of “Room To Breathe” after 19 shows. One of the band’s newest originals “Speak Up” led into “Get In The Van” (first in 15 shows) followed by Brendan Bayliss’s musical message to Jake Cinninger’s son Townes, “No Diablo.” The set ended with a well-jammed “Nothing Too Fancy” sandwich complete with “Cemetery Walk” and “Water” (first in 22 shows) filling.

Another new original already beloved by fans is “Roctopus,” which combines portions of past “Jimmy Stewarts” played as part of “Pay The Snucka” on April 14, 2015 and “In The Kitchen” on April 1, 2014. It’s nice to see “Roctopus” has become a part of the regular rotation as Thursday’s second set opener was the fifth since the tune was debuted at this year’s UMBowl in May.

The second set rolled on with under-played gems “Spires” (first in 18 shows), “2nd Self” (first in 14 shows) and “Prowler” (first in 20 shows). While keyboardist Joel Cummins sang lead for part of “Syncopated Strangers” the last time it was played, the version in Columbus found that part returning to Bayliss’s domain. “Much Obliged” came next followed by the first “No Comment” since Mountain Jam (27 shows). The rarities kept coming with a second set-closing “Cemetery Walk II” (first in 20 shows) and “The Weight Around” (first in 30 shows) that began a three-song encore. Last night’s “Weight Around” was just the seventh-ever played outside of Illinois. After “Bad Friday” Umphrey’s had the biggest surprise of the night in store for the Columbus faithful. The sextet ended the night with their bombastic cover of “Tomorrow Never Knows” by The Beatles. Not only had it been nearly three years (294 shows) since UM played the game-changing Revolver song, but “Tomorrow Never Knows” had only been performed for other times since 2004.

Tonight, Umphrey’s plays Stage AE in bassist Ryan Stasik’s hometown of Pittsburgh. While the show was supposed to take place outside, it has been moved indoors due to the threat of storms.

Setlist (via All Things Umphreys)

Set One: Jekyll & Hyde > Room to Breathe, Speak Up > Get In The Van, No Diablo, Nothing Too Fancy > Cemetery Walk, Water > Nothing Too Fancy

Set Two: Roctopus, Spires > 2nd Self, Prowler > Syncopated Strangers, Much Obliged > No Comment > Cemetery Walk II

Encore: The Weight Around, Bad Friday > Tomorrow Never Knows