As the final night of a 10 days tour Umphrey’s McGee brought
a great show with really interesting jams, a Feelgood jam, an amazing cover, and
very intriguing sets to the Lawn at White River State Park, in Indianapolis,
IN.
To lead things off was the pre recorded intro ‘Gurgle’ that
sounds exactly like its name. A harsh
gurgle moogy sound and then it immediately built up to ‘Ringo.’ Side
note: I was really surprised that they did not play this song on the 4th of July this year, but they
played it on the weekend of.
This has been a jam vehicle for years with 2 sections of improv.
The most notable places are prior to “….a bunch
of greasy animals…” and after a “…Slim
Knows the Score…” The jams were rather unique (Funky & Bass
heavy to rather progressive guitar/ piano led) and all over the place and
bringing the heat early with this running time 15.24.
Which lead the crowd to ‘Red Tape’, which is another huge
jam vehicle that got really funky at points but was a rather spacey jam, and
rather drum oriented. Almost a start
stop jam sounded like boulders crashing down. It lasted almost 20 minutes and got the crowd
roaring at several different points. This being only thesecond song, I knew
that we were in for a treat the rest of the night.
Being a longtime Umphrey’s fan, I knew that they like to
switch it up all the time. A little moog Taurus III started the bass & synth
led ‘The Linear’ was the next song; it was a pretty short but sweet
version. The cerebral song got the crowd
thinking about life, relationships and how awesome the concert was going so
far.
There was a bunch of
synchronized guitar playing that faded into synth portion that got the crowd
from thinking to moving. The synth intro
to ‘Day Nurse’ snuck up and for most of the crowd. As soon as the rest of the band jumped in the
audience did too, and it was a dance party. The body moving was included as
well as the face melting. Bayliss says
after the song “I know it’s hot, but that’s why god made sweat glands…so…that’s
okay”
When the song ended they took an interesting turn to the
grungy ballad ‘Loose Ends,’ The collective emotion was overwhelming coming from
both the band and the audience. Lead singer/ guitarist Brendan Bayliss was belting
his heart out on stage throughout the chorus “It’s not too difficult to
tighten….Loose Ends….for…me”.
After everyone regained their composer, the drums and
percussion kicked in for the start of the rocking ‘Puppet String.’ As soon as the chorus hit, the crowd was
going crazy, jumping up & down, with rage fists up in the air! Finally the breakdown of “these puppet strings
don’t pull themselves…..you’re thinking thoughts from someone else….how much time
do you think you have…are you prepared for what comes next” Into a monster solo
by Cinniger topped with a little but powerful jam. The band said thanks and we will see ya in a
little bit.
Side Note: Both 5.25.12 & 7.7.12 (this show) 1st
sets ended with a Loose>Puppet. 
The second set opened up with a ‘No Crying in Mexico>Hangover’
it was a pretty basic ‘Hangover’ until Bayliss got sentimental during the ‘break
out the booty wax’ part. He mentioned
the roots of the band were from South Bend City and how much they love coming
back, “Getting freaky on the loose end, getting
freaking in South Bend…”He said that his left side would sing, ‘Break out the
booty wax,’ while his right side would sing ‘It’s Saturday night!’ I believe
the right side was louder.
.JPG)
‘Miami Virtue’ the Death By Stereo album opener came
next. A much distorted, with keys
remaining in the background and a dissolved ending to jam and the song was left
unfinished. For the next tune they
brought up G. Love on harmonica to do Led Zeppelin’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’ everyone
was super excited to hear it. G. Love
played Robert Plant’s part phenomenal on harmonica. Jake had an unbelievable solo that brought
broke the levee.
The band had to take a break for a minute or two after that
scorcher. The feedback started up, and
it was the distorted sound of ‘1348’ landing to melt faces everywhere in
sight. I am a big fan of this song and
the jam was heavy but needed. This jam whirled its way into the chorus/ jam ‘Dr.
Feelgood’ by Motley Crue. Just shy of 3
minutes ‘Dr. Feelgood’ made way for ‘Much Obliged’ one of the first Umphrey’s
tunes. I am biased; I love this song
every time I hear it. Brendan altered the lyrics from ‘be glad they
even know your name,’ to ‘be glad they even know Joel’s name.’ The band tends to make fun of their keyboard
wizard from time to time. Within the jam Jake seemed to be teasing ‘No Comment’ within the jam .
After some noodling with direction they concluded the song.
‘Crucial Taunt,’ the new song that has only been played 3
times since it become a full song, and definitely rocked the house. I love the
lyrics, the music, and the lights looked great for it. The last time I saw it played was a day show
at summer camp so I could not see the lights.
Side note: Crucial Taunt is the
‘New Song’ at Summer Camp 2012 5.27.12, it’s pretty much the lyrics from the
4.08.05 stew in Nemo. After the song came to an end the crowd was hooting
and hollering. They slowed it down and
played the rarity ‘Dear Lord.’ They were
feeling of thankfulness surrounded the crowd.
The Keyboard Wizard himself was definitely tickling the ivories on this
one. He was really playing great. This was the calm before the storm.
.JPG)
.JPG)
The storm started when ‘Dear Lord’ got chaotic, they did not hesitate to make way for the end of ‘1348’ which was a great end to the
show. The crowd was going wild. UM signs everywhere. I had a feeling that the encore was going a
heavy hitter. I was thinking that it’d
be one song. I would have not have
guessed that it would be ‘Miss Tinkle’s Overture.’ Miss Tinkle’s ended up bringing the house
down. Great solos from both Brendan
& Jake.
Overall, great show, as well as great venue, thank you
Umphrey’s McGee can’t wait to see you guys again soon.
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