January 5, 2007

Sometimes in life everything comes together and you find yourself at the place you most want to be. This past weekend, I was That Guy.

That was me, experiencing the gamut of emotions at the Aragon Ballroom, where Umphrey’s McGee played three shows leading up to New Year’s Eve. I’ve fallen head over heels for UM over the past two years, and I’m thankfully still at the point where I enjoy each successive show more and more. When the band announced they were playing three year-end shows in its hometown, I just couldn’t resist and gathered 15 of my closest friends to join me for a trip to the Midwest.

Each night the band left nothing in the tank as they explored their huge repertoire, even adding a few covers to the mix. When you tear through your own songs for two hours it must be nice to play two or three amazing new covers each night. Who doesn’t like seeing their favorite band switch it up and play something new, like say, Dick In A Box?

The pairing of The Fuzz > Dear Lord that opened the second show was the musical highlight of the three shows that were chock full of musicial highlights. The rock groove found in The Fuzz was a major contrast to the beautiful tones on Dear Lord, a rarity that was one of the first songs the band ever wrote. For me the beauty of Umphrey’s is the diversity of their catalog — one minute the band would be grooving out to a reggae number when all of the sudden a heavy rocker would develop. The other non-musical highlight was the light show. Both the lasers (last seen on Pink Floyd’s Divsion Bell Tour) and the light show were top notch and really added to my enjoyment of the festivities.

Now that I’ve used every positive adjective in the blogging handbook in gushing over Umphrey’s, let’s check out some snapshots. Adam Kaufman shot the middle show on December 30th, and the pictures came out so good I thought I’d let the images do the talking and present a gallery of his incredible photos…

After a couple of three-day weekends we’re back to the old-fashioned two-day version. Whatevs, Fridays are awesome. It’s been a busy week at Hidden Track Headquarters, yet believe it or not

The New Year’s reviews and Trey overload continue: Our friend Ashley Griffin left for Atlantic City with a Trey Anastasio ticket, a set of loaded dice and a giant sack of cash. She returned with this review and a shiny new Cadillac.

New Year’s Eve has always provided Phish fans a window of time bathed in the light of hippie mysticism. Dysfunctional holiday family fun traditionally left one longing for a stronger drink than a mug of eggnog, and a holiday run of shows was the festive cocktail of choice for improvisational junkies. Hmm, maybe “junkies” was a poor choice of words there given recent events.

Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com

Anticipation of the tidal wave of cheers as the lights dimmed at MSG made suffering through painful conversations with distant relatives over turkey almost enjoyable. A New Year’s run was more than a string of shows. It was a celebration of the potential of the new year, both musically and communally.

Sadly those days are over now, but Trey still offered the promise of a new beginning this year with a string of holiday shows, culminating in a two-night run in the crown jewel of the Jersey shore. Atlantic City may be a cubic zirconium when compared to the debaucherous glitz of the Vega, but it sparkles nonetheless, shining brighter than ever on this evening as the newest incarnation of Trey’s horn-driven solo outfit tore through three sets to bring in the new year…