Umphrey's McGee

That little 4th of July weekend festival up in Maine is starting to take shape.  The latest additions to the inaugural Nateva Music Festival include Umphrey's McGee, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, as well as a special "Sunset in Maine" performance by Sound Tribe Sector 9 that will begin at "exactly" 8:28 on Saturday July 3rd.  These bands will be joining previously announced headliners Furthur, The Flaming Lips, moe, Lotus, and others.  The list of the latest additions is below.  Tickets are still available at the official Nateva site.

• STS9
• George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic
• Umphrey's McGee
• Max Creek
• John Brown's Body
• The Felice Brothers
• Ryan Montbleau Band
• Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad
• Greensky Bluegrass

As with any announcement there were a lot of people complaining about this year's initial Bonnaroo lineup.  Many felt the festival was betraying its jam roots.  Well the first round of artist additions should silence the critics a bit.  And .....................  Ween! It's gonna get brown.

There will be more additions as we get closer to the festival and we'll keep you updated.  Tickets and other details are still available at Bonnaroo.com

• Ween
• Galactic
• Umphrey's McGee
• John Butler Trio
• The Gossip
• Circa Survive

Umphrey's McGee continues their attempt to blur the line between band and fans with the announcement of their 2010 UMBowl.  Today comes the official explanation of the 4th Quarter as well as ticketing details, which include an extremely reasonable $99 pricetag.  I know some may consider this expensive for a "smaller" band, but having been privy to the band's behavior at one of their equally priced, albeit more exclusive S2 events, I have no doubts that the fans lucky enough to get tickets will be getting their walletsworth.  And then some.

Presale tickets go on sale March 3rd at noon CT through UMTicketing with the public onsale March 5th, same bat time, through Lincoln Hall Ticketing.  Good luck.  For more details head to UMBowl headquarters.

As you know, we don't believe in letting things wind down, so we are gonna take it up a level in the UMBowl's 4th Quarter (Q4). For Q4, YOU are the quarterback. Here is how it will work. The band will begin a set of UM classics, and along the way, you will be able to "call an audible" by texting in your vote as to which direction the band should go in.

As an example:

"Intentions Clear" begins, and four choices will be projected onto the screen:

A. Segue into a cover
B. Take the song into evil, minor key jam
C. Compose on the fly a soaring, major key "Jimmy Stewart," then return to Intentions Clear
D. Zappa-esque jam into Bridgeless

Voting occurs via text message and Offensive Coordinator Kevin will tally the votes and transmit the instructions to the band – you won't know what choice was made until the band begins to play it. You pick the plays and determine the strategy to make a killer set . . . the ebb and flow is up to you.

There has been a lot of talk over the last couple years about a possible studio album coming from the supergroup of sorts 30db featuring Yonder Mountain String Band's Jeff Austin and Umphrey's McGee's Brendan Bayliss. The duo has played several festival sets, but nothing too serious yet.  I had no idea that a website even existed for the group so you can imagine my joy when I was alerted to it, only to find a studio quality track streaming.

The tune, titled One Man Show, may simply be the first single off the album but from the art at the website it also seems like it may be a title track.  For now we are just left with guessing, but what we do have is a very nice little tune.  I am assuming the vocals will be mixed between Bayliss and Austin throughout the album but here Austin handles the lead.  Rumors of an April release seem a bit optimistic but clearly there is some stuff that is already done.  We'll update you with details when we have them, and hopefully that includes a mini-tour, although that's tough to do when your main bands hardly take a break.  Of course if you are lucky enough to be heading to Jam In The Dam you can catch the 30db set there, and you will be in Amsterdam.  Some might call that a win.

30db will also be playing a special St Patrick's Day show at Schubas in Chicago.  You can order tickets here. 

We made mention of a new UMBowl banner that the Umphrey's McGee gang added to their official site Super Bowl Sunday.  And while it's not any of the intensely researched guesses of the Super Hella Awesome team, it  certainly sounds awesome.  Re-posting the entire thing so as not to leave out any of the details.

 

We are psyched to announce the inaugural UMBowl!

UMBowl 2010 will be a unique interactive Umphrey's McGee experience. This 4+ hour extravaganza will be unlike any other Umphrey's event to date – the UMBowl will be a show for the ages!

The evening will be broken up into four quarters of music, each with a different interactive theme. The 1st quarter will kick off with an acoustic set chosen entirely by attendees. Well in advance of the show, each ticket buyer will receive a ballot to vote for which songs UM will give the acoustic treatment – and that's just the beginning. Further juicy details for the remaining quarters will be revealed shortly. Attendees will have unprecedented opportunities to showcase their musical coaching skills and truly get in the game. In addition to ticketing and travel packages, UMBowl will feature tailgating options, a halftime show, limited edition merch, and loads of other sweetness to make this a night to remember. For now, save the date for this intimate experience!

Stadium: Lincoln Hall
2424 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL

Gameday: Saturday April 24, 2010
Doors 7:00 PM, Kickoff 8:00 PM

We will be emailing further details and posting them to www.umphreys.com, Facebook, and Twitter . We have also set up a page dedicated to the UMBowl – www.umbowl.com – and will update it regularly.

Yes please!  Tailgating, acoustic set, fan interaction, halftime show, rock music oh my.   I'd say more but I'm too busy looking for plane flights.  See you there!

Looks like it's festival lineup announcement day.  Now we have this year's initial lineup for the All Good festival set to return to Martha's Mountaintop in Masontown, West Virginia July 8-11.  Those fans who weren't finding enough jam in the Bonnaroo lineup will be hard pressed to complain about this initial list as it features Widespread Panic, Furthur, Umphrey's McGee, Lotus, and many more.

Head on over to the official All Good site for ticketing info and more details.  We'll update you with the artist additions as they come.

Last night at Umphrey's McGee's Valentine's Day show in Baltimore, the band debuted a new cover based on fan voting, and the lucky winner was Wilco's I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.  Not wanting to make their original catalog feel slighted, the crowd at Ram's Head Live! was also treated to the debut of an Umphrey's original entitled Booth Love.  Thanks to the incredibly awesome combination of the taping community and the internet you can hear audience recordings of both tunes for free, today, with the band's approval.  I love the internet.

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (Wilco cover)

Booth Love (original debut)

And here is a nice stream of the entire show if you feel like some nice tunes in the background.  You can download taper Timothy Brown's recording of the show over at the Live Music Archive.  Of course you can also always get high quality soundboard recordings through the band's official avenue UMLive.  Rock.

On a day when most of the music loving world is attentively refreshing the Bonnaroo website in hopes of a complete lineup, Umphrey's McGee changed their own site to reveal the image above, as well as a corresponding banner ad for the event when entering the full site.  No details are offered whatsoever aside from what you see here.  Pretty exciting.  My guesses with bullets:

• Multi night run at Brooklyn Bowl with a tournament or something involving the band
• There have been some rumors of a small Hawaii run and the band is in Australia for the Byron Bay Blues Fest April 4,5.  A couple shows on the way back from down under would make quite a bit of sense.  The logo also sort of reminds me of a standard Pro Bowl emblem which could be a nod to Hawaii as the location.
• Hollywood Bowl with an orchestra 

With the next incarnation of the band's highly successful S2 event scheduled for this weekend in Atlanta, Umphrey's McGee have announced a new S2 which will take place at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia on February 27th.  With this announcement comes another good thing from the band, more charity. 

Umphrey’s McGee’s S² debuted on October 3rd in Milwaukee and since then each event has been a unique experience in band and fan interaction. As much as each S² has sharpened the band’s ability to improvise on the spot, it has been a learning experience for everyone in attendance. With learning in mind, Umphrey’s McGee will donate a portion of the proceeds from each upcoming S² event to USTORM, a Chicago-based charity that donates funds to help children in need as well as young adults to improve their lives by providing access to various music and arts education programs: United So Together Our Reach Multiplies. USTORM has donated over $40,000 to various music and art educational schools and programs. The connection between S² and USTORM is clear -- in the ever-evolving learning process of each S² event, Umphrey’s Mcgee looks forward to continuing to assist USTORM with their mission.  [via]

Nice work fellas.  The Philly S2 goes on sale today at noon EST through Umphrey's Ticketing.   This will sell out so get em while they are hot.  Truly an awesome experience for any music fan.

That's not all though, the band keeps coming up with original ways to interact with their fans, which is partly why they are so awesome.  Just recently they released several tracks to the Rock Band Network so all you video game guitarists cans do your best Jake and Brendan imitations.  You can check out a preview of what 1348 and Miss Tinkle's Overture look like over here.

For the band's upcoming Valentines Day show, appropriately taking on the name ValUMtine's Day, they have announced a couple of fun bits of fan interaction.  The show will take place in Baltimore at Rams Head Live! and will feature the band busting out a new love themed cover based on votes.  The candidates are as follows:

Death Cab for Cutie, I Will Possess Your Heart
Wilco, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Kiss, Love Em' and Leave Em'
Beck, Think I'm in Love
Def Leppard, Love Bites
J. Geils Band, Love Stinks
Roxy Music, Love Is the Drug
Prince, I Would Die 4 U
Stone Temple Pilots, Sour Girl

A tough call am I right?  I'd be very satisfied with almost all of those but I think in the end I'd have to vote for the funky madness the Prince cover would undoubtedly generate.  To do your part head on over to this link to vote, just make sure to do it before Friday Feb 12th at noon EST or you will be too late.  And noone wants that, believe me.

Adding to the ValUMtine's Day mania is a little video contest.  I'm going to just copy and paste the band's words so there is no confusion in what must be done.

Create a short video interpretation of your favorite Umphrey's McGee song for a chance to win a tickets to the show and a prize package! All you need to do is create a short video showing your love for your favorite Umphrey's song, whether it is you singing along, or you filming a short with the song as the soundtrack, the options are endless. All you need to do is post your video on YouTube and then email the link to:

contests@walther-productions.com

by 12:00 pm ET Friday, February 12, to enter the contest. Check in to Walther-productions.com for links to submitted videos.

Submissions received will be reviewed by the band, and the winner will receive a pair of tickets to the ValUMtines Day show Rams Head Live! along with two after-show passes, two Umphrey's McGee tour t-shirts, and a copy of the UMLive from that night's show.

Two runner ups will receive a copy of the UMLive from the Rams Head Live!.  [via]

Well that is pretty damn awesome if I don't say so myself.  Unfortunately we will be far away from Baltimore on ValUMtine's Day but I'm sure we'll be sending in something super hella awesome from here, most likely featuring a monkey that does karate.  It's looking like All Things Ninja!  Got any good ideas of your own?  Let us know in the comments, and let the games begin.

ast night Umphrey's McGee officially kicked off their first tour of the new year and unfortunately had to do so without keyboard maestro Joel Cummins who had to miss the show due to a death and the family.  Cummins will rejoin the band tonight in San Diego. 

Set I:  Resolution > stew#, 2x2 > stew* > 2x2, Crooked One, Black Water

Set II: In the Kitchen@ > Made to Measure 1 > Sociable Jimmy > stew2 > Professor Wormbog3 > In the Kitchen4, In Bloom, Got Your Milk(Right Here)5

Encore:  Mulches Odyssey

Notes:
Joel fake head on stick, recordings of joels voice the whole show
In the kitchen, "you will see joel tomorrow!"
#Bayliss keys, Korg
*Jake on moog, lights in and out, house lights for the rest of the set(show, besides the LED hexagon lights?), crew shining flash lights, laser pointer lol, shining light on disco ball, bayliss on korg for ending
@ slight bridgeless tease
1 Jake on keys, red Nord Stage keyboard > for JO: Jake moog and BB on Korg
2 jake on moog and BB on Korg
3 jake on keys(and guitar), red Nord Stage keyboard, after beginning for jam
4 jake on moog a little, "will we see joel tomorrow?"
5 jake filling in on keys again at parts, red Nord Stage

[via]

You can also check out a pretty awesome podcast interview that was done by Jim Hutchinson, from his website Jim On Light, with Umphrey's McGee lighting designer Jefferson Waful.  There is even some Chris Kuroda and Phish talk in there for those that are so inclined.  You can listen to the podcast below or head over to the original post for a download.

The band recently announced the fifth installment of their Stew Art series set to take place January 23rd at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, CO.  They are on the road now and as per usual are hitting pretty much everywhere so make sure and check them out when they come to a town near you.