Ryan Stasik sits in with the Disco Biscuits. Photo by Dave Vann, courtesy of www.facebook.com/pages/Mayan-Holidaze

The Disco Biscuits, Umphrey’s McGee and STS9 co-hosted the first Mayan Holidaze at the Mayan Riviera in Mexico this past weekend. The festival—a sequel to the Caribbean Holidaze event the Disco Biscuits and Umphrey’s McGee co-hosted in Jamaica—featured multiple performances by all three bands. In addition, the event boasted special activities that ranged from tennis with the members of Umphrey’s McGee to poker with the members of STS9 to scuba diving with Disco Biscuits keyboardist Aron Magner and salsa lessons from Umphrey’s McGee bassist Ryan Stasik. The shows were STS9’s last for the indefinite future while bassist David Murphy undergoes cancer treatment.

Umphrey’s McGee celebrated the 13th anniversary of its first show—which took place at South Bend, IN’s Bridget McGuire’s Filling Station—on January 21. Keyboardist Joel Cummins marked the occasion by wishing everyone “Happy Bar Mitzvah” during the set (a coming of age event that takes place when a Jewish male turns 13). The group also nodded to its surroundings by singing its song “In the Kitchen” entirely in Spanish.

The Disco Biscuits hosted the weekend’s only guest appearance when Umphrey’s McGee bassist Ryan Stasik sat in with the band for “On Time.” The bassist originally asked the group if he could join them for the song at last year’s Caribbean Holidaze. In addition, Umphrey’s McGee singer/guitarist Brendan Bayliss played a set with Yonder Mountain String Band’s Jeff Austin as 30db that included covers of Modest Mouse’s “The Good Times are Killing Me” and Wilco’s “Shot in the Arm.”

Mayan Holidaze’s final day featured unique performances by all three of the festival’s headliners. The members of STS9 performed an acoustic Axe the Cables set while the Disco Biscuits offered an all instrumental TractorBeam show that featured such songs as “Aquatic Ape,” “Mindless Dribble” and “Svenghali,” among others. Umphrey’s McGee, meanwhile, played an all request Eliga la Musica set that opened with “Soul Food I” and segued into “Sould Food II,” “Wife Soup” and “All Things Ninja.” The segment than moved from “Pay the Snucka” into “Q Bert,” “Der Bluten Kat,” “I’m On Fire” and “Orfeo.”