Fourteen months ago, on Halloween, Umphrey's McGee played one of the most impressive shows I'd ever seen. The buzz surrounding the event was undeniable and the actual show was religious. At the time the band was on the precipice of some major changes. Light design artist Jefferson Waful was ...view article
If the trip and surrounding circumstances of seeing Umphrey's McGee Wednesday in Seattle were hectic and confused, the exact opposite could be said about the day of the show in the University of Oregon college town of Eugene. Very few obvious Umphreaks were seen around the sleepy town and even until ...view article
The Aragon Ballroom in Chicago was a storm of rock and roll energy on the second to last day of 2009 as hometown heroes Umphrey's McGee laid musical carnage on a few thousand lucky ears. This New Year's run marks the 12th anniversary of the momentous three days of fury that is to Umphrey's fans ...view article
There is little comparison to the excitement of the thumping house beats, the funky rumble of a low bass line shaking the building and the infectious sonic articulation of synthesizers that can be found at a rave. Imagine that being topped off with soaring guitar licks and the interplay of four ...view article
San Diego was visited by an embarrassment of musical riches on this particular Tuesday night. In patchouli-soaked Ocean Beach, the city's own beachside Haight Ashbury, Leftover Salmon's Vince Herman led his Great American Taxi side project through an evening of bluegrass-tinged, southern-fried rock.
My first exposure to the avant-garde jazz trio Medeski Martin and Wood (conveniently known as MMW) was at the State Palace Theater during a Jazz Fest weekend in 1999 New Orleans. MMW was still relatively new, but had the distinction of opening for Phish in 1995, which stamped them with the Phish ...view article
Anticipation builds as we wind through the mountains along highway 70 from Denver to Aspen on the way to see arguably the best live band on the circuit today: Umphrey's McGee. It is somewhat trademark of Umphrey's to not just play these remote venues, but to make everyone who came all the way out ...view article
Since 1998 Umphreys Mcgee has been turning heads, and getting in the grimy spots of what is so called “jam” music, and changing Rock as we know it. On July 3rd 2011 with new intros, songs, and fans this was no ordinary show. This marked the 2nd annual ...view article
As the sun dropped behind the thick timberland's of the northwestern mitten, Umphrey’s McGee came out as cool as the air. Kris Myers and Joel Cummins were facing a double-header of music that evening, as they had just wrapped up another amazing set with their other project, Digital Tape Machine, ...view article