Last night, Umphrey’s McGee played their second show in as many nights at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Following a top-notch opening night that included a tribute to the late Tom Petty and a 200+ show bust-out of Toto‘s “Africa.” The show marked the midpoint of UM’s three-night weekend run in the New York City area.

Umphrey’s McGee Honors Tom Petty, Covers Toto’s “Africa” To Open Cap Run [Photo/Video]

Before the Saturday night show at The Cap began in earnest, the band played a special private VIP set at attached bar/venue Garcia’s. The set used a stripped-down version of their stage setup–likely their warmup gear–to an extremely intimate audience, creating an atmosphere that the band mentioned on several occasions “reminded them of twenty years ago.” For the set itself, Umphrey’s delivered a mix of old and new material, opening with an extended take on “Draconian,” a relatively new track debuted in 2015, before switching gears t0 an old favorite debuted in 1999, “Example 1”.

The next tune was one of the band’s most beloved tracks, “Kabump.” Though it is often forgotten in setlists among the band’s seemingly-endless catalog, the old favorite delighted fans from the first note on. When the familiar guitar-build intro of “2nd Self” rang out from the stage out of the surprising fan favorite it made for a stunning transition. After 40 minutes, the band took took a quick bow and disappeared backstage to prepare for two more full sets in the ornate theater next door.

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After foregoing an intro track on Friday, Umphrey’s launched right into their set with “Flamethrower,” one of their best and most aggressive intro tracks. “Flamethrower” flowed directly into a huge version of “Ringo,” one of their most reliable jam vehicles, and the jam did not disappoint. This version saw the band build up a particularly funky concept that eventually transformed into balls-to-the-wall metal fusion. The energy was growing wildly until UM dropped into a fat groove, and from that point on they had the whole audience in the palm of their hands. The band followed up “Ringo” with another tried and trusted jam vehicle, Mantis track “Red Tape.”

The Steely Dan-reminiscient “Comma Later” followed, with a short-but-sweet improv section that featured some fireworks from guitarist Jake Cinninger that eventually segued into a pulsing rendition of “Miami Virtue.” To close the set, Umphrey’s paired up two fan-favorites, “Out of Order” and “Wife Soup.” The one-two punch of favorites–with “Out of Order” providing a nice sing-a-long moment for the crowd and “Wife Soup” offering up a healthy dose of full-band improvisation–proved to be a perfect way to end the set.

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To open their final set of the evening, Umphrey’s once again paired a couple of classics, book-ending a huge version of the multi-sectional masterpiece “Der Bluten Kat” with perhaps the band’s most popular song, “In The Kitchen.” This “ITK” featured a jam on “All Things Ninja,” one of Umphrey’s most rare and cherished instrumentals, as well as a tease of “25 or 6 to 4” by Chicago, before moving back into the latter portion of “Der Bluten Kat”

Following a solid “Cemetary Walk”, Umphrey’s dropped a huge surprise on the crowd. When Ryan Stasik started up the famous bass line of “The National Anthem” by Radiohead, fans were expecting the Radiohead / Beck mashup “The National Loser Anthem,” from Umphrey’s 2016 mashup album, Zonkey. However, “Loser” was nowhere to be found, and Umphrey’s ended up playing a full version of the original Radiohead track for a Capitol Theatre crowd that was ecstatic with appreciation as soon as they figured out what was going on. It was one of those special “had to be there” moments that keeps hardcore fans coming back for more.

Watch Umphrey’s McGee cover Radiohead’s “The National Anthem” at The Capitol Theatre below via YouTube user
Gregory Marcus:

The “Speak Up” that followed featured the most ambitious jamming of the night, serving as the improvisational highlight from set two, and finally relented into a triumphant version of “Glory,” which closed out the second set. For the encore, Umphrey’s gave fans an excuse to dance one more time with a high-octane version of “Bad Friday” that contained a lengthy tease of “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” by Michael Jackson.

Umphrey’s McGee’s three-night New York run wraps up tonight with their highly awaited sold-out show at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

SETLIST: Umphrey’s McGee | The Capitol Theatre/Garcia’s | Port Chester, NY | 10/21/17 

VIP Pre-show Set: Draconian, Example 1, Kabump > 2nd Self

Set one: Flamethrower > Ringo, Red Tape, Comma Later > Out of Order > Wife Soup

Set two: Der Bluten Kat > In The Kitchen* > Der Bluten Kat, Cemetary Walk, The National Anthem, Speak Up > Glory

Encore: Bad Friday**

* “All Things Ninja” (UM) and “25 or 6 to 4” (Chicago) teases
** “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” (Michael Jackson) teases

[Cover photo via Andrew Blackstein]