Umphrey's McGee

"out of the three nights at blender, this was without a doubt the worst show. The songs and jams were decent, but the band didn't seem to be on the same page. None of the songs connected well at all. If you're going to buy shows buy the next two nights or the philly show. It seems like Umphrey's finally got their shit together after 10/14 and fuckin shook the east coast into a dirty dance party. "

"first off - i don't think i "know" this band. nobody does. they're always so far ahead of us the best we can hope for is to try and keep up! seriously - i just listen to them a lot (like...a lot) and see them when i can. other than that (and i was thinking this when i was watching them last week at these shows) these guys are just so damn amazing - ever evolving, ever challenging themselves and each other. NOBODY knows them. so all that being said, a few of my favorite shows from this year (with highlight jams) are 2/13 (all in time + jajunk) 4/4 (all in time and wappy) and DEFINITELY 4/5 (resolution, much obliged, ITK>higgins>ITK, jajunk) (these were two AMAZING shows in a row...some of my favorite jams EVER coming out of these 2 shows), 5/30/08 (everything!), and 8/9/08 (HBB, fir, BDK, N2F enc is CRAZY good). that's a good start. anyone who disagrees with this, or feels i left something out - YOU'RE PROBABLY RIGHT...please spare me the ranting and raving. good luck. enjoy. god bless umphrey's mcgee."

"and by that I meant recent shows... (last 3-4 months)"

"Spine -- you sound like you really know your UM. Just wondering if there's been any exemplary shows (in your opinion) that I really need to check out."

"probably my favorite show of the three NY shows (although the second set 10/16 was pure energy/madness). the plunger jam is nasty. the fir was decent but jake was having tech problems for >5 minutes at the beginning of the jam (and brendan did the next night too - very distracting - but i guess shit happens). brendan and pony carried it well until jake was back up though. the bridgeless>glory>bridgeless sang-which in the 2nd set was nothing short of stellar. jake was completely possessed during glory. merscher added nothing to the 40's theme at the end of the set, so joel stepped in and beefed it up. slacker encore was really tight too - also with some nice sounds and textures from joel. and the so-called "jimmy stewart" lead-in to rocker pt II is actually (i think) in the process of becoming a song b/c it's identical to the jam from the 7/18/08 FF. think it's popped up since then too. all in all it was a solid show. i thought brendan was not quite up to his potential - especially compared to the next couple of nights (he was on fire 10/16). worth the D/L though, for sure."