For a sector of the live scene that celebrates capriciousness, jam music lends itself to a certain (and perhaps surprising) degree of predictability. Nowadays, you can practically set your calendar to Phish’s New Year’s run at Madison Square Garden, String Cheese Incident taking over Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre in July and, in this case, Umphrey’s McGee stopping by Los Angeles in March to play the Wiltern Theatre.
With two blisteringly metallic sets, a spectacular light show and a brilliant opening set from Ghost-Note, this year’s visit on the Wax On, Wax Off Tour further cemented Umphrey’s West Coast tradition as a must-see on the annual jam circuit across America.
The six-piece outfit has fashioned a formidably eclectic catalogue for itself since its formation at the University of Notre Dame in 1997. That includes Umphrey’s two (plus) 2018 albums—it’s not us and it’s you—from which it pulled three songs (“Half Delayed,” “Looks” and “Triangle Tear”) on the first Saturday of March.
By and large, the band, which now (for the most part) calls Chicago its home base, spread sonic love across its expansive discography. Umphrey’s opened with “Plunger” and “Walletsworth”, both from 2004’s Anchor Drops, flashed back to 2002’s Local Band Does O.K. with “Ringo” and “Blue Echo”, paid respect to 2014’s Similar Skin with “No Diablo,” and more than mentioned 2009’s Mantis with the album’s title track and a double dose of “1348.”
With so much endemic metal already on offer, Umphrey’s opted to eschewtheir recent trend toward Led Zeppelin covers in favor of their own rendition of Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity”, just their second-ever rendition of the song following its debut during their 2018 New Year’s run. Chronologically speaking, the choice was fitting, since the moonwalking hit blew up in 1996, just before Umphrey’s came to be on campus in South Bend.
In truth, the song choices in this or any UM show are largely immaterial. After all, what matters most is not the core of any given track, but rather the extent to which the band riffs on those central themes.
To that end, Umphrey’s more than delivered. Between the two sets and the encore, the band combined for no fewer than six bona fide “jazz odysseys.” Those explorations offered ample opportunity to hear the very best of Jake Cinninger’s scintillating axemanship (with occasional standout guitar work from lead singer Brendan Bayliss), Joel Cummins’ crispy keys, Ryan Stasik’s skulkingly strong bass, and the rhythmically arresting percussion of Andy Farag and Kris Myers.
Together, the men of Umphrey’s painted a temporal aural masterpiece whose majesty, intricacy and hypnotistry was somehow matched (if not slightly exceeded) by a mesmerizing array of light rigs. Much like the band itself, each of the five rows of lights surrounding the stage added its own distinct dimension of color, texture, pattern and movement to create a captivating effect across the collective.
The thrilling loyalty of UM’s relatively tight-knit LA following in the crowd only adds to the experience—so long as revelers are able to stay on their own two feet through the three-hour performance. Combine that organic element with the band’s own blend of visual and musical magic, and it’s no wonder that Umphrey’s McGee has become such a seasonal success at the Wiltern, or that their fans, like those of their peers on the jam scene, are so keen to curate their own tours alongside UM’s.
You can watch a selection of videos from the performance below:
Umphrey’s McGee – “Plunger”
[Video: Travelin Light]
Umphrey’s McGee – “Walletsworth”
[Video: Travelin Light]
Umphrey’s McGee – “Night Nurse”
[Video: Paul Giza]
Umphrey’s McGee – “Wizard Burial Ground”
[Video: mb1065]
Following their performance tonight, Sunday, March 3rd at M3F in Arizona, Umphrey’s McGee’s tour continues this Thursday, March 7th in Bend, OR. For a full list of Umphrey’s McGee’s upcoming tour dates, head to their website here.
Setlist: Umphrey’s McGee | The Wiltern | Los Angeles, CA | 3/2/19
Set 1: Plunger > Walletsworth, Half Delayed, Night Nurse > White Man’s Moccasins, Blue Echo > No Diablo, Wizard Burial Ground
Set 2: Preamble > Mantis, Looks[1], Virtual Insanity, 1348 > Out Of Order > Ringo
Encore: Triangle Tear > 1348
[1] with Nate Werth on percussion
Support: Ghost-Note
You can stream and/or download soundboard audio of the show via Nugs.net.