The progressive rock house known as Umphrey's McGee rolled into The Pageant Friday night. Their spring '09 tour kicked off promoting their third, and most ambitious album to date, entitled "MANTIS". Following the new era of album releases, Umphrey's released the album on January 20th. As fans pre-ordered the album months in advance, the band released teasers from the album as pre-orders grew giving fans a sneak peak of what to expect come January. As a way of giving back to their fans, the band has also utilized a new innovative technology allowing fans who purchase the album to receive free bonus material that will be released throughout 2009.
The six piece musical force started the show wanting the presence of MANTIS and their new sound to be clearly understood. With the thundering beats of drummer Kris Myer's bass drum and the early sinister riffs of guitarist Jake Cinniger's axe, die hard Umphrey's fans knew they were opening with the new MANTIS track "1348". The first set continued on with some old school rotation members such as "Walletsworth", "Kabump", and "Mail Package", mixed in with a couple jams titled "Jimmy Stewart". I would explain "Stews" but we'd be here for days. Let's just say they are organized and improvised jams that often times may lead to the creation of future songs. The set making song of the first set was another MANTIS masterpiece "Cemetery Walk". This uptempo song broke down into one of the most soul chilling outros I have ever heard or witnessed. The simplistic, but mind numbing, slide work on the guitar by Cinniger and other guitarist Brendan Bayliss left the crowd feeling as if they were really sauntering through the valley of death as thousands of lost souls eyeballed them from afar.
The second set kicked off with a fairly new tune titled "Wappy Sprayberry". Once again, the boys took an upbeat, easy to dance to song and turned it into a wickedly vicious jam before coming full circle to finish out the second set opener. Following the opener, the crowd was left with a synthesized and sustained hum that any true rock fan knows as the beginning of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" by rock legends Pink Floyd. Being the huge Floyd fan that I am, I would have been very disappointed if they didn't do it justice. In the seven years and the twenty-four shows I have been to I have yet to be disappointed by anything this band plays. In those seven years I have witnessed 40 different covers ranging from "...and Justice for All" by Metallica to the "Family Feud Theme". I have often been left thinking that they played the covers better than the original bands had played them. The Floyd track was followed by "MANTIS" the albums title track. "MANTIS" was left unfinished as they segued into a fan favorite fifteen minute long "Hurt Bird Bath". This tune put the proverbial nail in the coffin letting the fans know that this is it. This show is going to be the dark and raunchy show they had projected by the first set opener. Without a break between songs, the band once again segued into another fan favorite, "Hangover". "Hangover" was broken down into a bit of funkiness featuring bassist Ryan Stasik laying down some funk bass wah lines complimented by keys player Joel Cummins' chords. After nearly twenty-seven minutes of playing without a break they finally took a short pause between songs before they started back up with "Resolution" which included a little tease of "The Triple Wide" mixed in. This left all the "untz" fans dancing their shoes on fire. At this point we take a couple steps backwards. We can't forget about that unfinished "MANTIS" can we? Hell no! I couldn't have asked for a better way for them to end the set. Cinniger's solo shredding at the end of this set would leave any string musician with carpal tunnel just by watching his clean, sharp, and electrifying finger work.
With the billowing "Umphrey's! Umphrey's!" chant, the boys returned to play their final two encore songs of the evening. The first encore song was a short tune named "FF" followed by the technoesque dance party known as "Cemetery Walk II". As the show ended fans lined up outside waiting to receive their copy of the night's show on disc. The price was a little steep for the copy but seeing as I don't pay for my ticket, I was more than happy to contribute to the band in this manner.
And so another Umphrey's McGee show concluded at The Pageant leaving fans wanting more and gaining the respect of a new fan in training. Be sure to check Umphrey's out at festivals across the country this summer including Summercamp and Bonnaroo!
