My Umphrey’s filled weekend started off on the morning of Thursday, 10/11/18. I had been preparing all week, and by preparing, I mean getting no work done because this weekend was all I could think about. And of course, the week dragged on as slow as molasses. Wednesday came and all I could talk about was my trip to come. By Wednesday night, I was too excited to sleep. I always have trouble sleeping the night before I go to see Umphrey’s, whether it be a three-night run (at this time I was only planning on doing three nights) or even just one night. I’m like a kid on Christmas Eve, pretending sleep and checking the time every other hour. After all the agony of waiting, Umphrey’s day was finally here! I popped out of bed at a ripe six thirty in the morning, ready for what the day had in store. I got the car all packed up and was soon to be on my way. I was heading down to Charlotte, North Carolina for night one. I had a six-hour drive ahead of me being from Northern Virginia.
Honestly, I had a rough time trying to get to the show. I left an hour and a half later than I wanted to due to many five-minute setbacks. Once I finally got on the road I witnessed a turtle (my favorite animal) get crushed by the car in the lane next to me going twenty miles over the speed limit. About an hour into my drive it started to pour, and I mean POUR down rain. I passed the worst accident that I have ever seen. The car was absolutely totaled beyond repair and there was somebody being taken out on a stretcher. And then on my first pit stop of the trip I stepped out of my car and right into a huge puddle of water causing my feet to become soaking wet. It continued to rain for the remainder of my drive. I found it hard to keep myself from pulling over on the side of the road to let the storm pass, but the idea of six of the most talented musicians in the jam band industry taking the stage in a couple hours kept me driving.
I finally got to charlotte with only an hour and a half to spare until the show. The rain had stopped, and it was a beautiful day again. I thought ‘okay, maybe the day is looking up!’ I checked into my hotel and then quickly proceeded to lock myself out of my room after being there for less than a minute. I got ready and headed out to my car to go to the show and I stubbed my toe so hard that I fell to the ground and even saw a couple stars floating around. I got to the venue and chose my place to stand (right in front of Stasik) and the guy next to me fainted before the music started. With the day’s events pairing up with my anxiety, my “pre-show jitters” were at an all-time high. But just then, the lights went down, and the opening act came on stage.
The opening act was this band called Southern Avenue. I had never heard of them before but knew that they had to be good because Umphrey’s doesn’t mess around with their choice in openers. They were a five-piece band and the first thing I noticed about them was that they had a female drummer. I am a HUGE fan of a female drummer. Male drummers are awesome too, don’t get me wrong, but I feel a little sense of woman power when I see a girl drummer. The second this I noticed was the lead singer. She was this tiny little spit of a thing with pink hair. As soon as the music started she opened her mouth to sing and she didn’t seem so small anymore. Her powerful voice filled the whole room. She also danced like no one was watching. She was wearing a pair of incredibly tall, red high heels, which I thought for sure that she was going to break her neck in. But she held her own and flounced around with an undeniably, attention-grabbing stage presence. All my stress from the day just rolled right off my shoulders when she looked me straight in the eye and sang “It’s gunna be alright…” I can’t remember if this song was their opener, but this song stood out to me. Because she was right, I just needed to get over all my bad thoughts. And it WAS going to be alright because in about forty-five minutes, the greatest band in the world was going to take the stage and melt all our faces.
Southern Avenue left the stage, having blown me and all the others in the audience at the time away. The lights came back on and I looked around. I was so thrown off my game earlier that I didn’t even get to take everything in. The show was at the Fillmore in Charlotte, which is where I saw my first Umphrey’s McGee show about four years ago. This was my first time back since. I paused and looked around and soaked up the vibes of the room. With all the people rushing in my “pre-show jitters” were coming back. But they were not anxious jitters this time, they were excitement jitters. I just had to focus on the time to keep my mind at ease. The boys are very punctual with their set times. They’re almost perfectly on time every night. I remember reaching for my phone and as I touched it one of their intro songs “October Rain” started to play and suddenly I was lost in a sea of rock and roll.
They started off the show with “Crucial Taunt.” It’s a great soaring, uplifting jam and a great way to start off the show. My first highlight of this show is the song that they played next. I heard the first couple notes from Ryan Stasik’s bass and my heart leaped into my throat. Was it really happening? Were they truly about to play “#5”? “#5” is a song that has been on the top of my wish list since my third or fourth UM show. But every time I’ve gone to see them, I miss the song by one show. They either play it the show before, or the show after the one that I’m about to see. I tweeted this fact to Joel a day or two before the show, saying that the Fillmore is where I saw them for the first time and this show would be my return. I always feel funny about tweeting requests to them because in all honesty, they could play whatever they wanted, and it would still be a mouth dropping show. But I did it and they fulfilled my request! I think I favor this song because it showcases Ryan Stasik and Andy Farag, the two most underrated members of the band. It has a milky base line and a bongo solo that Andy crushes every time.
The boys are killing the improv aspect of their playing this year so of course this “#5” wasn’t one that I would soon forget. The jam was weird and spacey at first but then became dance worthy when Jake started to use the foot peddle that makes his guitar sound like a steel drum. This almost reminded me of the spacey jams that they created in 2008. The end of the song slows down into a more serene melody which lead perfectly into “Booth Love.” This song is a crowd pleaser but always gets paired with a righteous jam. This kept the dance party going. Jake was stroking his axe creating all the right sounds for the jam. What happened next seemed like a dream. They slowly faded out of booth love and then went straight into the bust out of “Liberty Echo.” The last time they played this song was on 7/17/16 and they’ve only played it sixteen times since they debuted it on 4/27/12. This song is also a soaring, uplifting jam that inspires the soul.
The transition into “1348” was right on the money. Throughout the song, Jake got weird like he was getting earlier in “#5.” He was leading a dark, weird rhythm jam in which he soloed most of the time. While Jake was soloed, Bayliss provided some really nice undertones. The jam flip flopped between dancy and dark which had my feet grooving. After working so hard on the impeccable improv of the first set, they invited Kanika Moore from Doom Flamingo (Ryan Stasiks side project) to take over the stage and sing “I Wanna be your Lover” by Prince. Which she executed beautifully. She holds this magnetism in her stage presence that no matter who else in on stage, you want to watch her. This was her first ever Umphrey’s show. She was playing with the crowd and getting us all excited for later. Later, Doom Flamingo was doing the official after party for UM. She left the stage and the anticipation for the last song of the set was high. And with yet another soaring, uplifting jam, they closed with “Den.” I love “Den”, it feels like a breath of fresh air. It’s one of my favorite Joel songs. When they started to play this song, I made eye contact with this girl near me and we mouthed to each other “I love this song!” I looked at her a couple times during the song and she looked like she was enjoying every bit which made my heart happy and almost made me love the song more! I’ve only ever seen “Den” in the second set. But the first set closer is an amazing spot for this song. It capped off the first set with a melodic vibe.
The second set went by too fast. They came back out after set break and opened with “Pay the Snucka.” This song was my top, most common not seen songs on All Things Umphrey’s (now it’s Roulette). This was a good one for my first too. I also got my first “Uncommon” and “Triangle Tear.” Both of these songs have been on my wish list. I love crossing off song’s when I see them live. It’s kind of like a game to me. And then I make another wish list of songs that I haven’t seen and start over again. My highlight of the second set was “Wappy Sprayberry.” The jam was Hall-of-Fame worthy and some weird shit went down. In the middle of the jam, Kris broke one of his drum sticks and threw it at Jake. Jake then picked it up and started playing his guitar with the stick. But it wasn’t long before one of his strings broke. While they were replacing his guitar, he picked up his guitar chord and started to tap the jack of the chord to make music. The rest of the boys started to create an incredible jam to make up for the loss of Jake’s guitar sound.
The most impressive thing about Umphrey’s McGee is their musical agility. One of my favorite things about going to an Umphrey’s show is watching them closely so I can notice things like this. Things like if Jake breaks his guitar string or Joel has a piano malfunction, so Bayliss starts looping sounds, or Andy takes a solo. They can recognize the issue quickly and cover it up so that, to the regular concert goer, it seems like nothing went wrong. It might be the fact that they’ve been playing with each other for twenty years, but they all are so in tune with each other’s instruments that they finish one another’s sentences (musical sentences). And even though I have now seen them thirty-two times, this factor that they bring to the show will never grow old.
After a jaw dropping “Stinko’s Ascension” (a song that derived from a coupld Jimmy Stewarts and named after Jakes cat), another “Puppet String” was thrown my way. I wasn’t too surprised though because it fit in with the crowd-pleasing aspect of their setlist. I had met this guy earlier in the night who was there with his mom. As soon as he heard the bassline of the song he looked at me and said “yo, I’ve been chasing this song!” To which I said, “how many times have you seen them?” He said that this was only his third show which made a lot for sense to me. My first reaction, of course, was to scoff (to myself). But instead a stood back and watched him experience his first “Puppet String.” He was having so much fun singing all the words and his smile never left his face. This moved me, because he was obviously very new to the Umphrey’s scene, but I could see the umph love in his spirit.
This amazing show was about to be over and I couldn’t think of how they could make it any better. But then they encored with “Utopian Fir.” The last time that they encored with this song was on 6/24/11. Kind of a funky way to end the show with but I knew that a killer cover was coming my way. And I was right. They sandwiched the song with Led Zeppelins “Fool in the Rain.” This came to me at a very appropriate time. I have this playlist on spotify that’s called “Oldies but Goodies” and this song is on it. Usually I skip over it, only because I’ve heard it a million times. But for some reason, I let it play on my drive down in the pouring rain. When I heard Joel start to play my eyes got wide and I looked around as if someone would’ve known why I was so excited to hear it. This was the perfect pick for the encore. A perfect way to wrap up this show.
My great return to the Fillmore in Charlotte, North Carolina was filled with a heart-warming, soaring, uplifting show. Usually I wouldn’t review the entire show but this whole show was note-worthy. Going to see a band live is much better than streaming at home or listening on nugs the next day because you get to witness the little things that make you love the band so much. You get to notice that Ryan has been leading the improve sections more. You get to notice the looks that they give each other and be able to see what they’re thinking/feeling during a song. This was only night one. I had three more shows ahead of me and this one only dipped my toe into what I had in store.
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