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Featuring an eclectic mix of jam-band gurus, hip hop heroes and electronic wizardry marching on the front lines of the inaugural Summer Set Music Festival party line, this weekend’s fest. should be a helluva throw down for Wisco (as my new Scamp friends from Wisconsin told me to enunciate their beloved home state). Aside from headliner’s Pretty Lights, Umphrey’s McGee, Big Gigantic, NAS, Blackstar and YelaWolf– the sure-fire hot commodities certain to raise a ruckus, the up-and-comers on the bill round this fest out nicely. With the added touch of a little reggae roots rock from John Brown’s Body and the electronic prowess of beat masters Bonobo and RJD2, this assorted grab bag of musical savvy is genius on the part of the festival organizers.
More and more, we’re seeing the blending of musical genres at what were once dubbed with inherently jam-band musical talents and it’sa true testament to our generation and the performers spreading their wings to see such a variety of performers share their craft at such a unique event. While electronic music has certainly been a part of the mix for sometime, the last year has truly brought the on-slaught of hip hop into the music festival scene. (and I like it!!) Mos Def & Talib Kweli after a nasty 2 hour UM set– yes please!
And yes, for their kick-off fest. Summer Set was able to snatch up long-time Summer Camp electronic-funk-jam gurus Umphrey’s McGee. The boys have been on fire this year (see my earlier post HERE), throwing down late night performances and into the morning sets at Bonnaroo, Hangout Music Festival and of course the sick nasty three-part performances at Summer Camp Music Festival this year. I can’t wait to hear what they have up their sleeves for Summer Set which will be followed by an East Coast run my way to play at one of our many hometown breweries Pisgah Brewing Company.
For all you Summer Set goers– enjoy the boogie and I’ll catch up with you after the boys throw down at Pisgah after! Onward and upward ~Tiffany
Umphrey’s McGee, as you all very well know, is the one band that truly pulls my heart strings. Nothing compares to the musical poetry of their jam-funk-rock ballads. Each song dips and wanes from a sweet, solid groove into a glorious guitar shredding metal rock ballad, leaving you yearning for just one more wild ride. At Summer Camp 2012, the boys played their usual 3 sets, along with an additional private jam-session in a the little white chapel on the hill for 100 of their die-hard UM fans.
Friday night’s set kicked off with the upbeat funk teaser ‘Gurgle’ before melding into a light and bouncy jam-off of ’2nd Self.’ Stasik kicked in a little more bass and the boys got gangsta’ with a rare ‘Pay the Snucka‘ jam before settling into a little poppy spin-off in Miami Virtue. The crowd grooved together in the sweet, ever-changing melodies as the sun set in a glorious soft orange haze behind the stage.
They jumped into a heart-felt jam of ‘Glory,’ a song so epic that it should be our National Anthem, which faded perfectly into a 
floaty spin-off of ’2×2′ before kicking a little funk back into the mix with a lingering performance of ‘Ringo.’ They finished up the first set dancing and tickling their fast-paced guitar and bass licks in and out of ‘Loose Ends’ which ran nicely into a face-melting ‘Puppet String.’
They killed it second set, getting back on stage with the juicy, hard-core guitar rifts of ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ to deviate from the floaty, ethereal wave they left out on first set. They merged that into a nice, drawn out jam of ‘Ocean’s Billy’ before grooving into a hard, nasty version of break-up ballad ‘Mulche’s Odyssey.’ They picked up the groove with the classic ‘Bright Lights,’ got down-right funky with hard bass rifts and sweet key licks in ‘Dump City’ before bringing it back into their oh-so-familiar tease rift with ‘Ocean Billy.’ That swept right into my absolute favorite dance groove ’40s Theme.” They wound the crowd in and out of their sweet, rollicking mayhem with a solid ’46×2,’ a little dance up-chuck ‘Day Nurse’ and a final bounce back into ‘Pay the Snucka‘ to round out one helluva kick-off performance for Scamp 2012! Wooo. I’m red, hot and bothered just writing about it.
The best way I can describe it, I explained to a fellow Scamper, is that it’s “the best sex of your life. Hell, it is life. It winds you up and gets you all heated and mad yet satisfied then brings you back down with soft, soothing tickling bass and keys rifts… and before you can say STOP, it jolts you right into a climax with an epic, face-melting guitar rift.” Only UM knows how to do that. More on Saturday’s performance tomorrow….for now, enjoy previews of the UM tracks mentioned above by clicking on the highlighted tracks. They’re also selling all three sets from Summer Camp 2012 on a USB drive on their website. ‘Til next time music lovers. ~Tiffany