Umphrey’s McGee Welcomes Lettuce Horns & Mike Racky At Summer Camp

The 2018 edition of the Summer Camp Music Festival continued on Friday in Chillicothe, Illinois. Yesterday’s action saw the likes of Yonder Mountain String Band, Twiddle, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, Keller Williams and John Medeski’s Mad Skillet deliver sets throughout the day. The fest’s traditional co-headliners Umphrey’s McGee was tapped to play a two-set headlining show on Friday night that saw them joined by a longtime friend and get a little funky with the help of Lettuce’s horn section.

The prog-jam-rockers got their third set of Summer Camp going with the one-two punch of “Maybe Someday” from it’s not us paired with “The Bottom Half,” which was seeing action for just the second time this year. Setlist staple “All In Time” from the band’s tongue-in-cheek named Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 segued into “Upward.” The tune, which has been in their repertoire since 2014 was finally laid to wax appearing on their recently released surprise album. The Chicago-based band went with back-to-back tracks from their new record serving up the live debut of “Triangle Tear” next. The lead track from it’s you worked its way into “The Triple Wide” ahead of just the fifth take on another new tune: “Dark Brush.”

The sextet then welcomed their first guests of the night as Eric “Benny” Bloom and Ryan Zoidis from Lettuce joined them on stage to help close out their opening frame. With the saxophonist and trumpet player in tow, the augmented act dug in on a cover of “Canary In A Coalmine.” The track from The Police’s 1980 release Zenyatta Mondatta was played for the second time since it was debuted last year on New Year’s Eve. Death By Stereo’s “Booth Love” got an extended ten-plus minute workout next. UM brought out one more guest to help bring the set to end as pedal steel player Mike Racky emerged. With nine now people on stage the ad-hoc ensemble served up a cover of Sturgill Simpson’s “A Call To Arms” from the country singer’s 2016 album A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.

Umphrey’s McGee opened up their second set of the night with an expansive 17-plus minute “Ocean Billy.” Then, “Remind Me” segued straight into longtime fan-favorite “Miss Tinkle’s Overture.” The band filled out the back half of set with “Wappy Sprayberry” > “Remind Me,” “Den” and the end of “All In Time.” Lettuce keyboardist Nigel Hall sat-in for a synth solo during “Remind Me.” UM closed out the night with a two-song encore of “Half Delayed” and “Partyin’ Peeps.”

Watch a pair of fan-shot videos and check out the full setlist below:

[Call To Arms | Captured by shinepigeon]

[All In Time | Captured by Gregory Marcus]

Setlist (via TheBort.com)

Set I: Maybe Someday > The Bottom Half, All in Time > Upward, Triangle Tear [1] > The Triple Wide > Dark Brush, Canary in a Coalmine [2] > Booth Love [2], Call to Arms [3]

Set II: Ocean Billy, Remind Me [4] > Miss Tinkle’s Overture, Wappy Sprayberry > Remind Me, Den > All in Time

Encore: Half Delayed > Partyin’ Peeps

[1] Debut, [2] w/ Lettuce horns, [3] w/ Lettuce Horns & Mike Racky, [4] w/ Nigel hall