Umphreys McGee review - G&L content

A bit late in posting this, but better late than never....

Umphreys is one of those bands I've known of for many years but other than the occasional song I didn't know much about them. A couple of years ago I saw one of their shows on the AXS Concert channel. That really turned my head. These guys can rock and were a great mix of prog rock with some jam band touches. They did a 4 night run leading up to New Years Eve. I was hoping to see the New Years Eve show but my daughter wanted to go and she already had New Years plans so we went to the Dec 30 show.
I only have 2 of their CDs so a lot of the tunes during the night were new to me. But I still thoroughly enjoyed the show. Looks like they extended most of the songs with some additional solos/jamming etc. Dang these guys were tight! They could stop and turn on a dime.
I checked out the setlist for the 4 nights and saw they did some cool covers during the 4 night stretch. For the unintiated, these might give you a hint on what their originals sound like. Covers included:
McCartney - Band On The Run, Rush - YYZ, Yes - Roundabout, Little Feat - Fat man In The Bathtub, Kiss – Detroit Rock City and probably a couple others I missed.
Based on the setlist I'd guess the NYE show must have lasted at least 4 hours.

They have two guitar players. Both of them excellent and trading leads back and forth but the 1 guy Jake Cinninger really had the spotlight the night I saw. They really impressed me and I'll definitely be checking out more of their stuff. My only minor complaint was the sound mix. I could barely hear the keyboards most of the might.

If you want to mess with your ears check out their album "Zonkey". It's a weird, fun collection of songs they did with each track combining 4 or 5 (mostly) classic rocks songs together into each wacky mashup. Personally, I don't know how they managed to pull it off. And I mean that in a good way. Not something I'd listen to every day but certainly interesting and entertaining stuff.

To keep things legit here's the obligatory G&L content:
As mentioned above Jake is not only a certified guitar hero he is also a G&L user.
If I recall he used G&Ls on all but 1 song. Looks like he used mostly Legacys or maybe it was S500 and Legacy Specials.

Bonus G&L content:
the opening band Cory Wang Band had a bit of gear trouble so he borrowed Umphrey's G&L guitars for a couple of songs. I knew nothing about Cory Wang so the day of the show I did a quick youtube search. I'll admit I was underwhelmed by what I found online. But the live version that night I greatly enjoyed. He was a fine picker and the band was a fun mix of jam band/R&B with just a touch of reggae.


Jeff

Hey Jeff,

Thanks for posting. Man I need to see that band. Cinninger usually plays a S-500 I thought but bet he rotates many with their long shows.

Color me jealous!

glad you got to see them, Jeff. they definitely deliver the goods, live, and their tickets are pretty affordable.
most of their shows are close to 3 hrs. different set every night.
i like downloading their sets' mp-3's the next day, from nugs.
Sam - you gotta go, man. just do it! they play about 100 shows/year now. i try to see them 2-3 times per year.
i'm going up to the pocono mountains in Pa 3/21 to see them at a great venue called Penn's Peak.

here's a nice interview with Jake from last summer about his rig. he usually uses a comanche now, but he used to play an s-500 deluxe that he wore out. last summer he got a fullerton red legacy that is souped up, different pup's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9dfhAgBD_E

Listened to their live show from last year in Atl. Man I have a new hero. Jake is good. I really enjoy that kind of music. More like a jam session! Sweet.