Umphrey’s McGee continues to redefine and expand on contemporary jam music by infusing every conceivable genre with their signature brand of progressive post-hardcore rock and roll blues. With soaring jams that cover all of the bases regarding genre, as well as explosive build-ups and peaks, Umphrey’s McGee never disappoints and always brings the heat. Friday, August 30th at The Mann Center was no exception.
Sound Tribe Sector 9 is one of the founding fathers of jamtronica. The band places its focus primarily on the overall rhythm and the power of syncopated togetherness in a jam. STS9 is all about the tribe as a whole and their musical peaks incorporate every instrument simultaneously while avoiding typical jam band guitar solos, except for the tremendous bass riffs that Dave Murphy is best known for. STS9 always stays true to its dance roots no matter how much jamming they incorporate, and every show is an epic dance party. Friday at The Mann center provided STS9 with a fantastic set list filled with both old and new material that offered a nice balance of dance beats and improvisational jam bits.
The Umphrey’s McGee and STS9 performance at The Mann was an extremely diverse show to say the least and it had something to offer for every type of music fan.
Opening up for these two incredible acts was “Up Until Now” Jay Murphy’s DJ/Producing project. Jay Murphy is the brother of Dave Murphy of STS9 and Dave often sits in with Up Until Now, and did just that the evening after the show at The Blockley’s after party, where Up Until Now performed an after party set.
STS9 opened up their set at The Mann full force, with an energy that held strong throughout their entire set and reaching a crescendo during the last song. Excitement ran wild through the crowd and it was easy to see after only one song into their set the overwhelming energy that consumed this venue. STS9 started the show off with “Metameme”, a popular fan favorite that set the tone for the rest of the band’s set. Slowing the vibe down a bit, four songs into the set STS9 performed “Really wut?,” an older tune beloved by many tribe fans. The song created a very relaxed vibe and allowed for some experimenting and improvisation on Murphy’s part when the song reaches the little bass solo jam. Another highlight of tribe’s set was a newer song known as “Scheme,” which caused everyone to get down. “Golden Gate,” also a newer song, offered older and more jaded tribe fans a taste of just how blissful and euphoric some of tribe’s newer material can be live. STS9 then chose to close out their set with “Breathe In” and “Wika Chikana,” two older songs that have proven to be favorites among tribe fans everywhere. “Breathe In” offered the crowd another relaxing and uplifting jam that left a sense of bliss and euphoria in the air. “Wika Chikana” closed out their set on a powerful note, maintaining the same level of energy throughout the entire set. STS9 fans were more than satisfied with the Tribes set to say the least and every song was well executed.
The second half of the show moved in an entirely different direction. The rest of the evening was pure rock and roll and Umphrey’s McGee made sure to bring the heat. Fans were certainly anticipating a fiery show, unsure of where things might go. When Umph took the stage the vibe of the show completely changed from when Tribe had the stage. It was now a rock and roll show and we were all in for one hell of a ride. Smiles were contagious when Umphrey’s took the stage and one could almost taste the Umph Love in the air. Umphrey’s opened up their set with “Gurgle” which was followed by “Slacker”. Following Slacker was the fan favorite, “Ocean Billy,” which was followed by “Day Nurse” and then back into “Ocean Billy” for a perfectly executed sandwich with amazing segues from the beginning of “Gurgle” to the end of the segment’s final “Ocean Billy”.
Following Ocean Billy, Umphrey’s performed the ever popular “All in Time” which is one of the band’s oldest and most performed songs, as well as one of their r favorite songs to play. Following All in Time, Umphrey’s performed an amazing version of Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” No one in the crowd appeared to be concerned whether Umphrey’s could truly do the song justice, as everyone knew they had it in the bag like everything they perform. After that amazing cover and tribute to Floyd, Umphrey’s closed out their set with a killer “Wappy Sprayberry” featuring Dave Murphy of STS9 on bass and Jeffrey Lerner of STS9 on percussion. Following the heavy “Wappy Sprayberry” was the set closer and fan favorite, “JaJunk”. STS9 did not perform an encore at this show; however Umphrey’s did and both bands certainly performed at the top of their game. Umphrey’s encore was the song “Waiting Room,” a cover by the post hardcore band Fugazi, who I personally am a huge fan of, so this encore had me losing my mind! “Waiting Room” featured STS9‘s drummer Zach Velmer, who replaced Chris on the drum kit. Following “Waiting Room” Umphrey’s then closed out their encore of a seemingly perfect set with “Pay the Snucka” which had everyone smiling and singing along and laughing to the lyrics. The laughter and the smiles were contagious throughout the venue. “Pay the Snucka” featured a “Bulls on Parade” jam by Rage Against the Machine towards the end of the song that closed out the encore to end the set with just as much energy, power and velocity that the band started with. Even the crowd raged “Pay the Snucka” as hard as they were dancing to the beginning of both sets. August 30th was a night of consistency through and through when it comes to performances of both bands and the participation of the crowd.
If you missed out entirely on this tour you can catch both bands reuniting again, this time with The Disco Biscuits, for Mayan Holidaze, or you can catch Umphrey’s at a city near you during their upcoming fall tour which starts in October. STS9 will be headlining and performing at a variety of festivals this fall. Both of these incredibly talented acts are not to be missed and are certainly a must see!
STS9 Set: Metameme, Vapors, What Is Love?, Really What? > 4 Year Puma, Scheme, Vibyl, F Word, Golden Gate, 20-12, Move My Peeps, MOD, Awesome feat. Cool Kids (STS9 Remix) > Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature, Breathe In, Wika Chikana
Umphrey’s McGee Set: Gurgle > Slacker > Ocean Billy > Day Nurse > Ocean Billy, All In Time, Shine On You Crazy Diamond > Wappy Sprayberry[1], JaJunk
Encore: Waiting Room [2], Pay the Snucka [3]
[1] with David Murphy on bass and Jeffree Lerner on percussion
[2] with Zach Velmer replacing Kris on drums
[3] with Bulls On Parade (Rage Against the Machine) jam
Review written by Joshua Greenberg
Photography by Derek Brad
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