Umphreys McGee review - G&L content

[repoman]

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

[sam]

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!

[john o]

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

[4Daughters]

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.