photo by Erin Slayter

CHICAGO - Last Saturday Umphrey’s McGee performed their 2nd anual UMBOWL in Chicago. This is a unique concert experience for Umphrey’s McGee’s most loyal fans. The show is broken down into 4 “quarters” of music. Each quarter having a different theme.

Quarter 1 was “Choose Your Own Experience.” Fans where presented with a list of song choices to decide the opening tunes. Fans voted via text message and the results where tallied in real time. The highlights of this set where “In The Kitchen” with Spanish Lyrics played to perfection and the Daft Punk-esque prog metal jam “Bona Fid Lovin.”

Quater 2 was a Stew Art Event described as “a one of a kind Umphrey’s innovation.” This was a full set of improvs based on themes, ideas, scenes, and concepts presented by the fans. Kevin Browning called the plays & Umphrey’s improvised on the fly. Highlights from this set featured a Classical Regulate in honor of the late Nate Dogg a Heavy Metal Dance Party and an uplifting Moog Cocktail bleeding into Take Us To Church.

photo by Ben Slayter

Quarter 3 is the “Special Teams Quarter.” This set features band members playing different instruments performing, duos, solos, trios, and quartets . The third quarter started off with a ‘When Harry Met Sally’ UM video spoof staring bass player Ryan Stasik that was quite hilarious. This set was really enjoyable with all the band members switching up instruments as the set went along. One of the highlights of this set was the instrumental electronic dub jam featuring Bayliss and Joel on keyboards, Kris on drums, Farag on percussion, Jake on moog, and Ryan on iPhone.

Quarter 4: The final set was the fan favorite “All Request Quarter.” Ticket buyers received a ballot to vote for variations of songs they would most like to hear. The final set kicked of with a bluegrass rendition of “Nothing to Fancy” and closed with a stunning encore of a mashup of Thriller and Another Brick in the Wall.

We had the pleasure of watching the show live on iClips from the comfort of our couch. The audio from the show is now available for download at UMLIVE. You can also purchase the video archive at iClips.net.

Setlist via OhKeePahBlog

First Quarter: Jazz Odyssey > In The Kitchen^, Bonafide Lovin^^ > “Jimmy Stewart”^^^ > Qbert > All In Time^^^^

Second Quarter: Bring the Funk > Classical Regulate > Heavy Metal Dance Party > Waful Meets Disco-ball > Soaring Uplifting jam > Tool Meets Umphrey’s > Moog Cocktail > Take Us To Church > Ambient jam > I’m in a Video Game

Third Quarter: When Harry Met Sally UM video spoof, Ruled by Secrecy*, Untitled**, Going to California***, Untitled****, Heard it Through the Grapevine*****, Great American# > Jam## > Great American#, Big Bottom Spinal Tap###, FF####, Instrumental Electronic Dub jam@, Much Obliged@@, In Violation of Yes@@@

Fourth Quarter: Nothing Too Fancy+ > Mrs. Robinson’s Strut, Divisions > Glory > Divisions, Fifth of Beethoven, Blue Echo > 1348 > Blue Echo > 1348, Tom Sawyer++

Overtime: Thriller/Another Brick in the Wall+++

Notes
^in Espagnol
^^ Chromeo cover
^^^Daft Punk-esque prog metal jam
^^^^completes UMBowl I version [4.24.10]
* Joel solo, Muse cover
** Brendan on piano solo: new song, untitled
*** Brendan on mandolin, Jake on acoustic. Led Zeppelin cover.
**** Ryan on bass, Jake on electric. new song, instrumental and untitled
***** Ryan on bass, Jake on electric, Farag on percussion. Instrumental, jazz version.

Ryan on bass, Jake on electric, Farag on percussion, Joel on keys.

Ryan on bass, Jake on drum ktt, Farag on percussion, Joel on keys. “Praise You” teases.

Jake on bass, Farag, on Bass, Ryan on Bass, Brendan on bass, Joel on key-tar, Kris on drums.

Kris on electric, Ryan on electric, Joel on percussion, Farag on drums, Jake on piano, Bayliss on bass

@ Bayliss and Joel on keyboards Kris on drums, Farag on percussion, Jake on moog, Ryan on iPhone
@@ Mike Mirro on drums, original line-up. No Jake or Kris.
@@@ Mike Mirro on percussion, all of Umphrey’s.
+Bluegrass style
++ Rush cover, with South Park video intro
+++ mash-up

Set Times

photo by Ben Slayter

photo by Erin Slayter

photo by Ben Slayter

photo by Erin Slayter

photo by Ben Slayter

photos by Ben & Erin Slayter

photo by Ben Slayter