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<\/p>\nBy Jamie Dull<\/p>\n
Umphrey\u2019s McGee served up three nights of raging shows this past weekend to ring in the new year. The first night was at Chicago\u2019s Riviera Theater followed by two night\u2019s at the Aragon Ballroom. I was fortunate enough to attend the second night, December 30th. I\u2019m glad I did. The energy was positive and festive.<\/p>\n
I think most people attending this show were hoping for a rowdy night. Something to help them let go of what, for many, was a rough year. Umphrey\u2019s are known for throwing really, really fun New Years Eve parties. This one lived up to the hype. They opened their night two show with \u2018Mulche\u2019s Odyssey\u2019, getting fans riled up with some super heavy, dark guitar riffs. The tension within their first set continued to climb. They played a song called \u2018North Route\u2019 live for the first time ever and also reprised and finished the song \u2018Nothing Too Fancy\u2019 which had been started the night before, but never finished. And to many fans\u2019 delight they teased the intro of \u2018Roundabout\u2019 by Yes. After getting through the initial intro of the song they then launched into a cover of \u2018Bombtrack\u2019 by Rage Against the Machine featuring Dave Watts from opening band The Motet on drums while Kris Myers, drummer for Umphrey\u2019s sang lead. At this point in the night the show\u2019s energy was nearly out of control. That was just the first set.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In typical Umphrey\u2019s fashion they returned for their second set ready to get down. They opened with \u2018The Floor\u2019 followed by \u2018Much Obliged\u2019 which led into \u2018Hurt Bird Bath\u2019 which featured a quick \u2018Bombtrack\u2019 reprise. Their jams were seriously intense. My favorite part of their second set was how they seamlessly transitioned from the song \u20181348\u2019 into \u2018Slacker\u2019 into \u2018Miami Virtue\u2019 back into \u20181348\u2019 to close it out. The light show during the second set was incredible too. Every musical peak and valley was joined by a color scheme perfect for the feel delivered by the band. The atmosphere of a show always magnifies the type of energy given off by both the band and crowd. They do a wonderful job of matching the show\u2019s vibe to what the crowd sees. A nice little perk, if you will, to an already amazing live show. After a 10 minute wait or so they returned for a killer encore, \u2018JaJunk\u2019. They jumped right in without hesitation, bringing the show back to life for one more song, ending on a the highest point of the night.<\/p>\n
Umphrey\u2019s knows how to control a show unlike any other band. Their sheer talent mixed with their dedication for doing what they love is proven every time they hit the stage. Their sound is unlike anything else. They explore new territory with every show and are not afraid to take risks on stage. Each show is unique and special. If you find yourself with an opportunity to see them live, don\u2019t miss out.<\/p>\n
(photos via Umphrey’s McGee)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Jamie Dull Umphrey\u2019s McGee served up three nights of raging shows this past weekend to ring in the new year. The first night was at Chicago\u2019s Riviera Theater followed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,41,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-news","category-features","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}