Umphrey’s McGee Busts Out The Band Cover At Levon Helm Studios

Umphrey’s McGee played their first concert at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, New York on Sunday night. Billed as “Rambling On: Mostly True Tales,” the special show was capped with a fitting cover of The Band’s “Don’t Do It,” which UM last performed on December 31, 2011.

Throughout the night, members of UM told stories and responded to fan-submitted questions. The first set began with “Suxity,” the band’s original that made its debut on New Year’s Eve 2019. The rest of the all-originals first set consisted of longtime setlist staples, “Wife Soup,” “Bridgeless,” “End Of The Road,” “Morning Song,” “Water” and the closer, “JaJunk.”

Set two kicked off with “Puppet String,” with more originals coming in the form of “Women Wine and Song,” “Bad Friday,” “Walletsworth” and “Higgins.” Umphrey’s then selected the first cover of the night, Mark Knopfler’s instrumental “We’re Going to War.” The set concluded with “Whistle Kids” and “Believe the Lie.” Keyboardist Joel Cummins started the encore with a solo piano rendition of his “Orfeo.” The rest of the band then joined for “The Weight Around” and the aforementioned “Don’t Do It.”

UM went 843 shows between performances of “Don’t Do It.” Sunday’s rendition, with drummer Kris Myers playing Levon Helm’s drums, was UM’s third time playing The Band classic after first appearing on December 31, 2004.

Watch Umphrey’s McGee cover The Band’s “Don’t Do It” at Levon Helm Studios below:

Setlist (via All Things UM)

Set One: Suxity, Wife Soup, Bridgeless, End of the Road, Morning Song, Water, JaJunk

Set Two: Puppet String, Women Wine and Song, Bad Friday, Walletsworth, Higgins[1], We’re Going to War[2], Whistle Kids, Believe the Lie

Encore: Orfeo[3], The Weight Around, Don’t Do It

Footnotes:

• [1] with Can’t You Hear Me Knocking (The Rolling Stones) teases and jam
• [2] with Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin) tease
• [3] just Joel

Show Notes:

• billed as Rambling On: Mostly True Tales, with a myriad of stories and fan-submitted Q&A
• with I Want a New Drug (Huey Lewis) tease after End of the Road
• with (Don’t Fear) The Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult) tease before JaJunk
• with Lassie (Les Baxter) whistling before Whistle Kids
• with La Grange (ZZ Top) and Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin) teases before We’re Going to War
• with Woody Woodpecker theme (George Tibbles & Ramey Idriss) tease before Don’t Do It
• last Don’t Do It 2011-12-31 (843 shows)