Umphrey’s McGee Debuts Steely Dan & Green Day Covers At Pine Creek Lodge

Umphrey’s McGee settled in at idyllic Livingston, Montana venue Pine Creek Lodge this past weekend for a three-night stand. The band loaded the setlists with surprises, including Steely Dan and Green Day cover premieres and a handful of rarities previously missing in action.

The jam stalwarts continue to tour without guitarist Jake Cinninger. UM’s Brendan Bayliss has been handling the bulk of vocal duties since Cinniger began a break from the road due to “personal reasons” in February, as he did again at Pine Creek Lodge.

Umphrey’s McGee began the run on Thursday night. The show featured the band’s first take on the Talking Heads classic “Burning Down The House” since April 20, 2012 — a span of 1,207 shows. Additionally, UM dusted off “Two Tickets To Paradise” on Thursday. The cover of Eddie Money’s 1978 hit was last played by Umphrey’s 477 shows prior on September 20, 2019. Other highlights included a “Jimmy Stewart” improvisation with lyrics during “Blue Echo” and a 25-minute “Concessions.”

On Friday, keyboardist Joel Cummins led into a performance of “Kimble” by playing the intro to “Philosophy,” a Ben Folds Five song Umphrey’s covered twice during their first week as a band in January of 1998. “We’re gonna let Joel do something he’s been wanting to do for a couple of decades,” Bayliss advised the crowd ahead of the “Philosophy” intro.

The eight-song first set on Friday concluded with Umphrey’s McGee’s first-ever cover of “Dirty Work.” Brendan Bayliss sang the song Steely Dan originally released on their debut 1972 album Can’t Buy A Thrill. The closing stanza of the middle show was a six-song affair bookended by extended versions of “Plunger” and “Slacker.” A 15-minute “Out Of Focus” encore ended the night.

Umphrey’s McGee wrapped their latest visit to Pine Creek Lodge on Saturday. The biggest surprise of the first set was the inclusion of “You & You Alone,” which featured Bayliss on acoustic guitar. The poignant song from 2018’s It’s Not Us had only been performed twice previously by UM since 2019 before the band trotted out the ballad in Montana.

Saturday’s second set opened with the title track off 2009’s Mantis. Bayliss, Cummins and bandmates Andy Farag, Ryan Stasik and Scotty Zwang went on to work an unfinished “Ocean Billy” into Green Day’s “Longview” towards the end of the frame. Once again, Brendan Bayliss fronted the new cover. While UM didn’t stray too far from the structure of the 1994 hit, they did extend “Longview” for nearly seven minutes with a shred-heavy guitar solo.

Umphrey’s McGee had one more trick up their sleeves when they returned for the final encore of the run. The group dusted off their take on Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” for the first time since April 5, 2008 (1,683) to lead into the conclusion of “Ocean Billy.”

Next up for Umphrey’s McGee is the moe.mentUM Tour with moe. The outing starts this Thursday, June 11 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Watch audience-captured video of Umphrey’s debuting “Dirty Work” and dusting off “Little Wing” in Montana below, followed by the setlists and official audio for each show of the run:

Setlists & Official Audio (via All Things Umphreys & nugs)

Thursday, June 4

Set One: Pure Saturation > Walletsworth, Phil’s Farm, No Diablo, The Crooked One[1] > Blue Echo[2], Burning Down the House

Set Two: Bad Friday, Concessions > Andy’s Last Beer[3], Thin Air > Two Tickets to Paradise > Thin Air, The Silent Type

Encore: The Floor[4]

Footnotes:

• [1] with Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution (AC/DC) teases
• [2] “Jimmy Stewart” with lyrics
• [3] with Where It’s At (Beck) teases
• [4] with The End (The Doors) quote in intro

Show Notes:

• entire show without Jake
• last Burning Down the House 2012-04-20 (1,207 shows)
• last Two Tickets to Paradise 2019-09-20 (477 shows)

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Friday, June 5

Set One: Piranhas > Anchor Drops > Day Nurse[1], Kimble[2] > Similar Skin, Uncommon, Dirty Work[3]

Set Two: Plunger > 2nd Self, Wappy Sprayberry[4] > The National Anthem, I Don’t Know What I Want, Slacker

Encore: Out of Focus

Footnotes:

• [1] with Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg) tease
• [2] with Philosophy (Ben Folds Five) intro
• [3] debut, Steely Dan
• [4] with Where It’s At (Beck) teases

Show Notes:

• entire show without Jake
• with YYZ (Rush) tease before Plunger

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Saturday, June 6

Set One: Suxity > Half Delayed, Rocker Part 2, Escape Goat > You & You Alone[1], Conduit, Example 1[2] > Higgins

Set Two: Preamble > Mantis, Small Strides, Puppet String > Hourglass, Ocean Billy > Longview[3] > Puppet String

Encore: Little Wing > Ocean Billy

Footnotes:

[1] with Brendan on acoustic [2] with Brick House (The Commodores) teases [3] debut, Green Day

Show Notes:

• entire show without Jake
• last You & You Alone 2024-02-01 (209 shows)
• last Little Wing 2008-04-05 (1,683 shows)

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