Umphreys McGee and STS9 were forced to cancel the final show on their joint summer tour Saturday night. The two bands were scheduled to perform at Atlantas Masquerade Music Park, but ended up pulling the plug on the show after severe weather left the venue without power. A post on Umphreys McGees official blog gives us the lowdown on the situation:

About 20 minutes before the scheduled show time the band was talking over the set list when we finally accepted the fact that a heavy but brief storm was about to roll through downtown Atlanta. No problem we thought, we’ll just push back the start time 15-20 minutes once the heavy stuff passes. None of us were so lucky. The massive lightening that danced around the Atlanta skyline hit two separate power transformers and knocked out electricity in much of the downtown area, including all of Masquerade Park. The winds blew so heavily that several of our lightning trusses came crashing to the ground along with a plethora of microphones and instruments. The integrity of the stage was compromised as one of the support towers showed signs of bowing once the rain began to collect in heavy pockets on the roof. Tarps proved no match for the wind gusts that filled them like kites. Darkness began to fall with out a single light on in the entire venue holding 4000 people.
_A team comprised of various personnel from UM, Sts9, the show’s promoter and local production crews immediately began strategizing how we could still manage to pull off a show. Every scenario possible was considered and reconsidered. Jake and Brendan even contemplated pulling two acoustic guitars and sitting at the lip of the stage for an impromptu sing along but the stage wasn’t even deemed safe for that. Ultimately every scenario revealed itself impossible as the reality of a powerless venue sank further and further in. At that point, we were entirely dependent on the City of Atlanta and the electric company. It was frustrating for all of us as we couldn’t even make an announcement over the PA to loop the fans in on what info we had. We were all bummed that the run had to finish like this and we are already strategizing on how to make it up to all of you who tried to come out and support us _.
With the venue empty and the stage pitch black, a generator finally showed up to provide some light for a uber s l o w load out. The power company finally got the electricity back on around 1:30 at which point most of us were already asleep trying to squeeze in as much rest as we could for our 6:00 am bus ride to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport.
A few nights earlier, while performing a late night set at Raleigh, NCs Lincoln Theatre, the members of Umphreys McGee also offered some new and rare covers. Early on, the sextet debuted The Polices Voices Inside My Head, before the six musicians busted out a medley of Michael Jacksons The Girl is Mine and Janes Addictions Jane Says for the first time since June 28, 2007 and Jacksons Billie Jean for the first time since July 9, 2005. During It’s About That Time, the Gongzilla guitar team of Bon Lozaga and Mike Miz replaced Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger for a jam, while Cinninger showed off his percussion skills.
Umphreys will appear at Hiram, MEs Up North Festival this weekend, while STS9 will headline San Franciscos The Independent on August 15.