Umphrey’s Mcgee played a 2 night run at the Brooklyn Bowl on the strip. The first night included their glorious UMBowl, which consisted of 4 unique sets, or “Quarters.”
The First Quarter consisted of what they call, “RAW STEWAGE,” which is an entire set of your favorite pieces of improv stitched together to create a long-form piece of new music. Ticket buyers were able to vote on their favorite live moments, and the band took those votes and assembled them into one tidy package.
Quarter 1: Non-Compliance[1], Make It Right[1], Remind Me[1], Draconian[1], Stinko’s Ascension[1]
The Second Quarter was an, “ALL REQUEST,” Quarter where ticket buyers received a ballot to vote for the songs they’d most like to hear.Quarter 2: Helter Skelter -> Orfeo, Rocker > Rocker Part 2, In The Black[1], YYZ
The Third Quarter is what they call, “STEW ART EVENT,” where the band played a full set of improvisation based exclusively on themes, ideas, scenes, and concepts presented by fans. Entries were submitted via text message by those in attendance and the best of the best were added to the playbook. The selected themes appeared before both the band and audience in real time so split-second decisions were totally paramount.Quarter 3: Stew Art Event
The Fourth Quarter was a,”CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE,” experience where those in attendance were calling the plays, quarterbacking the music if you will. A series of choices were be presented to the audience on projection screens and they were decided in real time. Voting occurred via text message and the results tallied as they came in. Fans were able to choose from a wide variety of UM originals, improvisational styles, and cover songs.Quarter 4: Bridgeless[2] > Den > Hindsight, Mamu[3], “Get Weird” JO > Where Is My Mind? > All In Time[4]
Overtime: Hangover[5], The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down[6]
[1] debut, original [2] with Soul Food II and My Soul (Clifton Chenier) teases; unfinished [3] with Jake replacing Kris on drums [4] with Where Is My Mind? (Pixies) teases; ending only [5] with Xxplosive (Dr. Dre) teases [6] debut, The Band
The second night was another explosive one by the boys, with no signs of fatigue from UMBowl the night earlier. I ran into Brendan Bayliss and Ryan Stasik before the show and took the opportunity to give them a handful of Summer Camp flyers while jokingly asking if they’d be coming out to Summer Camp. They responded with a good sense of humor.
This night I had a photo pass and VIP access to Brooklyn Bowl’s Las Vegas outpost. A guy couldn’t ask for more – check out the setlist and photo album below!!
Set 1: Bathing Digits > Bad Friday, Dump City, All In Time[1] -> Upward > Bridgeless[2], Booth Love > 2×2
Set 2: Educated Guess, Much Obliged > Day Nurse > Hurt Bird Bath, That’s All > Bright Lights, Big City[3] -> Pay the Snucka
Encore: 40’s Theme
[1] began the version from 05.01.2015 [2] finished version from 05.01.2015 [3] with 25 or 6 to 4 (Chicago) jam
Posted by Alex Fornes Photography on Sunday, May 3, 2015
