No Power? Show Goes On For Umphrey’s McGee

Last night in their hometown of Chicago, HT faves Umphrey’s McGee were set to play a special concert at Lincoln Hall as part of the Groupon Presents…Chicago Music Series that wound up being more “special” than anyone had bargained for when power went out for not only the venue, but the surrounding buildings as well. After a delay, the band lived up to the “Show Must Go On” credo and put on a memorable instrumental performance using a backup generator before the power was restored allowing Umphrey’s to play a 30-minute encore.

[Photo via @JeffersonWaful]

Once the power went out, which crippled bassist Ryan Stasik’s amp, guitarists Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss came out sporting electric guitars plugged into a backup generator in the kitchen along with percussionist Andy Farag and treated fans to the instrumentals Great American, Heard It Through The Grapevine and the rare Pequod which featured teases of One (Metallica), Thunderstruck (AC/DC), Roundabout (Yes) and Rain Song (Led Zeppelin). After that, the other band members came out and played instrumentals for the rest of the set including All Things Ninja, Day Nurse, Blue Echo and The Fussy Dutchman. They even tackled The Linear, a song they initially debuted without lyrics, instrumentally as the P.A. was inoperable. LD Jefferson Waful had to make the best of using only four LED lights, but Umphrey’s and their crew played the hand they were dealt by Mother Nature and rallied to put on a show no one will forget.

By the time the encore rolled around, power had been restored. The crew took about ten minutes to rejigger the stage and the sextet broke the string of instrumentals with 2nd Self. While this show was part of the promotion for Death By Stereo, it took until the middle of the encore, when Booth Love and Domino Theory were performed, for any songs from the recently released album to see any action. A little after 11:30PM, Umphrey’s ended the once-in-a-lifetime evening with a cover of Reelin’ In The Years by Steely Dan. Waful summed up the night on Twitter…

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/jeffersonwaful/status/126880216537763840″]

Umphrey’s heads to the state where the band was born, Indiana, for a show at The Bluebird in Bloomington for what fans and the group hope will be more of a straight-forward rock show. As for the UMLive recording of last night that was made available through Groupon, sound caresser Kevin Browning is working on it…

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/Soundcaresser/status/127020494649180160″]

Only Set: (9:45) Great American^> Heard It through the Grapevine^,The Pequod^&, Professor Wormbog, The Linear->Blue Echo> The Fussy Dutchman, Day Nurse, All Things Ninja(11:00)

Encore: (11:10) 2nd Self, Booth Love, Domino Theory, Reelin’ In the Years(11:40)

^ Brendan, Jake and Andy have come out to play on electric guitars and perc. Powered from generator in the kitchen Great American
& One teases by Metallica, Thunderstruck Teases, Roundabout Teases,

[via The Bort]

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