Umphrey’s McGee played two unique hometown shows this past weekend. On Friday night, the band hosted their UM Bowl III at Chicago’s Park West. As in years past, the night featured four unique musical “quarters.” The first quarter was comprised of attendees’ votes and featured the debut of the new original song “Comma Later.” Umphrey’s McGee also offered their first take on the classic Grateful Dead segue “Help On the Way > Slipknot!” since 2000 as well as a first-time cover of Tools’ “46 & 2” sung by drummer Kris Myers.

The group’s second quarter was a Stew Art event that featured a a marriage proposal and a softball themes like “afternoon Jamaican bus ride.” For the many, Umphrey’s McGee’s third quarter boasted the evening’s best improvisations. A “choose your own adventure” set where
attendees voted for the next “adventure” live, the sextet kicked things off with “All in Time” and continued to play without stopping throughout the quarter. The set climaxed with a run from “Mantis” into Talking Heads’ “Making Flippy Floppy > Nothing Too Fancy” and the end of “Nothing Too Fancy.”

For their ‘Raw Stewage’ fourth quarter, the members of Umphrey’s McGee revisited several “Jimmy Stewarts” improvisational segments. The quarter peaked as the lyrical 4/8/2005 jam segued into the 2006 11/2 Groove Holmes jam. The annual event was again peppered with parody videos with guitarist Brendan Bayliss and bassist Ryan Stasik arguing over some Almost Famous Stillwater style t-shirts with some jamband references thrown in for good measure (a clip of which can be found above).

The celebration continued on Saturday night when Umphrey’s McGee played an extremely intimate private show for a group of fans at their old Chicago haunt Martyrs’. Billed as “Bill Graham for a Day,” the band peppered their setlist with first-time covers, including Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper” and Modest Mouse’s “The Good Times are Killing Me” as well as a rare take on Men at Work’s “Down Under.”

For their first encore, Bayliss, onetime Umphrey’s McGee crew member Wade “Wyllys” Wilby and Clayton Halsey offered a new original mock song called “Two Dips.” Bayliss and Wilby debuted the humorous number at Holidaze earlier this year.

Here’s a look at this weekend’s setlists via Umphrey’s McGee’s homepage

Friday, April 27, Park West, Chicago, IL

First Quarter:
Flamethrower > Night Nurse > Voyager > Front Porch, Comma Later (*), Help On the Way > Slipknot!, 46 & 2 (**)

Second Quarter:
Stew Art event

Third Quarter:
All In Time($) > Glory > The Linear > August($) > Lay Down Sally jam > Bridgeless, Preamble > Mantis($) > Making Flippy Floppy > Nothing Too Fancy($$)

Fourth Quarter:
Mulche’s Odyssey 10.20.07 > The Haunt 06.10.06 > Bright Lights Big City 02.11.11 > Intentions Clear 03.03.11(%), The Triple Wide 12.11.04 > Nemo 04.08.05(%)> Groove Holmes 11.02.06 > In the Kitchen 01.22.09 > In the Kitchen ($$)

Overtime:
Divisons
Notes

(*) debut, original
(**) debut, Tool
($) unfinished
($$) ending only
(%) with lyrics

Saturday, April 28, Martyrs’, Chicago, IL

Set I: Wappy Sprayberry > Space Funk Booty > Last Man Swerving > Out of Order, Down Under, The Weight Around, Robot World > “Jimmy Stewart” (*) > 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover > Puppet String (**)

Set II: Utopian Fir, The Trooper ($), Baby Honey Sugar Darlin’, Hurt Bird Bath > The Other Side of Things > Hurt Bird Bath, The Good Times Are Killing Me ($$) > Nopener (%), The Triple Wide, Hangover (%%)

E: Two Dips (&), Wizard Burial Ground
E2: Waiting Room

(*) with lyrics
(**) with In the Kitchen teases
($) debut, Iron Maiden
($$) debut, Modest Mouse
(%) lounge style
(%%) with La Grange (ZZ Top) jam
(&) debut, Brendan with Wade Wilby and Clayton Halsey

Additional reporting by Pietro C. Truba