Show Review - Umphrey's McGee 1/31/23 Cleveland, OH
Umphrey’s McGee’s 2024 winter tour rolled through Cleveland last night for a barn-burner at the House of Blues. Kicking off their third weekend of the year with drummer Kris Myers back behind the kit after an extended shoulder surgery-related absence, the sextet was poised to deliver an amazing show.
Though UM is known for their punctuality, they started a whopping ten minutes after ticket time, something that definitely surprised me given their penchant for walking on stage within a minute under normal circumstances.
All of that was forgotten, however, as a brief wall of guitar feedback dropped into the proggy intro to instrumental “Prowler.” Known for being an incredibly tight unit, the two guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, and percussion navigated the complex composition with ease.
I was not familiar with the majority of songs played last night and was excited to expand my knowledge of the UM catalogue – I was immediately intrigued as the heavy prog was exchanged for a piano solo over a section that reminded me a lot of early Phish compositions like “The Landlady” or “The Lizards” at times. Bayliss dropped some nice wah rhythm counterpoints in before a brief guitar solo took us into a final winding road of arpeggiated riffs.
Seamlessly transitioning into the lyrical opening of “Water,” getting its first performance since February 2023, UM continued their blend of heavy prog and lighter composed riffs. The brief jam in this tune saw some interplay between Joel Cummins on piano and both Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger on guitar. Using each other as a counterpoint and yet still striking out on their own musical journeys, this major-key exploration really helped the band and crowd get warmed up before the first “JO” designation on the setlist hit with “No Comment.”
Emerging out of the ending of “Water” in a swirl of reverbed-out piano and Ryan Stasik bass riffs, the funky tune set the tone for what would be the theme of the night’s improv – heavy, industrial funk with synth-effected bass at the forefront. Myers struck forth in a tight beat as the guitarists offered lower and higher register rhythm work to begin the jam, mellowing out quickly in search of an idea to build around.
Returning to the initial motif and then a brief flirt with a more upbeat theme, Stasik activated his synth pedal – giving his bass an almost ring-modulated effect as Cummins locked in his Vintage Vibe with some nice chordal work. The funk got darker and heavier, building to several frenzied guitar peaks before quickly dissolving into the opening of “White Man’s Moccasins” by way of fretboard tapping from Bayliss.
Cinninger took the lead on the solo in this tune, becoming the second song in a row to get its first play since before Myers’ shoulder surgery in August.
Bayliss took a second to greet the Cleveland crowd at the end of the nonstop opening stretch of nearly 40 minutes before firing up “Out Of Order,” which highlighted once again the amazing dual-guitar interplay he has with Cinninger. A quick “Anchor Drops” (first play since last April, over 50 shows) was a first set highlight for me, mostly due to the incredibly filthy organ tone dialed in by Cummins – lots of percussion! The keyboardist shone on a staccato solo in this song before UM moved into a set-closing take on “Remind Me.”
This jam wasted no time before leaping into a filthy funk groove accentuated early on by Cummins’ organ and Myers’ quick off-beat stops. The straight funk took on darker and more industrial tones as time went on, with Cummins moving to Prophet synthesizer stabs and Stasik going back to his ring-mod synth effect. Stank faces abounded as the jam peaked, dove back into funk, and then rode a wave of energy to a crushing metal-like shredfest thanks to Cinninger.
A precise 30-minute setbreak led to Cinninger’s first lead vocal of the night on “Looks.” This intensely psychedelic song featured some amazing harmonies from Myers as he crushed the drums, giving us a few minutes of jamming within the short opener.
“Similar Skin” began with a drums-only groove courtesy of Myers and percussionist Andy Farag before the rest of the band jumped in. Lo and behold – it was time for another deep funk jam. The guitars led the early portion with Cummins accenting on Vintage Vibe riffs, darting around the melodies and rhythmic work with bright and jazzy stabs.
“Padgett’s Profile” opened with unison guitar shredding and led to another edition of amazing funk jamming – this time with layered guitar melodies over the brighter space. Stasik still stuck to the deep effects, laying in the pocket with Myers perfectly. The bright sentiment from the guitar continued as Cummins laid into his synthesizer and the ring mod industrial funk returned for a few minutes.
“New Wings,” the only repeat from last year’s Cleveland show, offered a nice breather before a well-jammed “Resolution” came in next. Farag stuck out along with Cinninger in the first jam, adding excellent percussion accents around the staccato guitar solo. Cummins’ jazzy Vintage Vibe stabs once again drew my attention, a common occurrence due to my love of keyboards – especially with a Herbie Hancock vibe like this.
“Booth Love” acted as the second set closer and blasted in with a fully-committed ring modulator funk jam. Initiated by Stasik at first, UM blasted into an amazing “Tweezer Reprise”-esque peak atop Cummins’ soaring organ and shreddy guitar.
A two song encore of “Educated Guess” and the jaunty “Partyin’ Peeps” ended the night in fine fashion, leaving me certain of the fact that it was my favourite of my seven UM concerts to date.
Winter tour continues this weekend across the Midwest (with webcasts available for nugs.net subscribers) and they’ve got a full slate of dates coming up for the rest of the winter and spring – definitely catch a show on the Kris Myers Comeback Tour if you can!!
I also had the amazing opportunity to interview Joel and Ryan before the show – that podcast episode will be out on Monday, so stay tuned!