Umphrey’s McGee tasted the rainbow and jammed out at The Observatory North Park.
On Monday March 21st the South Bend, Indiana based jam rock band Umphrey’s McGee brought their fantastic live show to The Observatory North Park in San Diego California. This weekday show was very well attended, with a large and dedicated San Diego and Southern California fan base rallying behind the nearly thirty year old group and packing the beautiful North Park venue. Many of the fans in the audience seemingly attended multiple nights of the band’s southern California run, following the band along the road as they traveled through Petaluma, Sacramento, San Diego, and Santa Ana. Umphrey’s McGee was fresh off a trip to the Dominican Republic where they just performed at Tool’s destination festival, Tool in the Sand, with drummer Danny Carey.
Like many jam bands, Umphrey’s McGee can be classified as a mix of multiple genres of music like funk, jazz, country, reggae, and folk. However, their sound is heavier than most bands in this sub-genre and it actually has a ton of rock and metal elements which make the group very distinct. This band locks into one another and plays these intricate grooves with fantastic interplay between all the musicians. The group quite simply rocks out, and they have these long heavy instrumental jam breaks in most of their songs where all of the players can highlight their different skills. Drummer Kris Myers is an absolute beast behind the kit and is really a progressive metal drummer, pounding away behind a diverse array of other musical influences. Guitar players Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger had some wonderful twin lead solo guitar sections, where their guitars sang together in perfect harmony.
Umphrey’s McGee had another jam band staple as part of their show, an absolutely incredible lighting rig. This band always brings the most beautiful colors to its performances both musically and visually, and this show was no exception, with a kaleidoscopic rainbow of dancing lights illuminating the band and uplifting the crowd. The live sound for this show was also top notch, with each instrument clearly cutting through and the vocals and solo parts ringing loud above a powerful churning rhythm section. The way the lights and patterns interplayed with what the band was playing was just so spot on, this group achieves a lot with the theatrics of their performance and not just their excellent musicianship. The Observatory North Park was a wonderful venue for this group with plenty of space on the floor and a ton of fans watching the fancy lightshow from the venue’s spacious balcony as well.
The veteran group performed a long fourteen song setlist from throughout their career. Highlights of the band’s 1st set included the fun and funky “Made to Measure,” the trippy and spacey opening song “Small Strides”, and the powerful rocking “Cemetery Walk and Cemetery Walk II” which closed the 1st set. The band’s 2nd set featured the cool mashup jam “Life During Exodus,” and the fast paced progressive rock inspired “Out of Focus,” ending with a crowd favorite Grateful Dead cover of “Help on The Way / Slipknot!” The fans of Umphrey’s McGee danced the night away throughout the venue and seemed to love what this group was serving up on a Monday evening. Here’s to more visits to San Diego from this fantastic band and their dazzling and dizzying live show.
