Get Out Friday: Umphrey's McGee at The Showbox

Being a Chicago guy originally, this Seattlest is definitely a little biased towards this jamband from the windy city (via South Bend, IN). Umphrey's has managed to fill a little bit of the hole left in our musical soul when those four guys from Vermont decided to call it quits a few years ago. These guys can rock your ass off, pull out some sweet, tight jams and they work incredibly well together. In these days of Americn Idol, pop stars that lip sync and other crap, it is always wonderful to see a band that can improvise their way through a whole show. That's not to say they can't pull off some catchy 4 minute tunes that can appeal to the masses. They even recorded a feel-good tune with Huey Lewis(yes, that Huey Lewis) and he performed it with them on Jimmy Kimmel a couple of years ago.

They have a very stong fan base across much of the US, but they just don't seem to have made much of a dent in the Seattle music scene. In fact, the last time they made it out to the NW they skipped Seattle and went straight to Portland. Well, hopefully they pull out all the stops this weekend and put on a great show the crowd reacts well to. Don't just stand there people!

9pm // The Showbox // $18 or $20

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By Geoff on February 7, 2008 1:00 PM

Comments [rss]

Geoff

taylor_dane - This might be the show you went to...

http://www.archive.org/details/um2004-10-29.flac16

taylor dane

ah yes, umphreys mcgee. A friend dragged me to their show at Neumo's a few years back. One's mind is a lot more open when it's only a six block walk.

There's a special place reserved in hell for jambands. I was willing to see these guys just to hate a jamband in real life. That plan was thwarted when they walked on stage and somehow managed to rock my fucking socks off. Technically, the band was far off the charts into Zappa land. Musically, it was all over the place--Def Lepard, The Police, King Crimson, and Metallica all wrapped into a tight proggy buritto. Definitely underrated, horribly mis-categorized, worth seeing.

bconnolly

No, you're right. It's not like I'm saying "your taste in music is so fucking awful!" because it could really be a lot worse.

I just find this kind of music to be incredibly lame and boring. You have to be a really good guitar noodler for me to say "well this isn't my cup of tea but listen to him wail on that thing."

Geoff

Ouch...maybe I'll just go back to writing about beer.

Yeah, plenty of you out there will hate these guys...just like plenty of you hate most of the music I like, including Phish. This town doesn't have much of a taste for "jambands" in general it seems.