Words: Benjamin Slayter and Erin Slayter
On Saturday April 2, 2011 the sports bars and pubs of Chicago were packed with fans: some came to watch the NCAA basketball finals, others were in town to catch the Cubs opening homestand and a few watched U.S. Women’s soccer fall to England. Right alongside those diehards was a group of fans gearing up for a sporting event unlike those others, Umphrey’s McGee’s UMBowl II. The event, held at the Park West, was the latest offering in interactive concert experiences from improvisational gurus Umphrey’s McGee who have quickly become a front-runner in delivering fans fully immersive and interactive experiences.
[Photo by Erin Slayter]
Supporting this talented bunch of musicians and helping make an event like this possible is an extremely dedicated network of management and crew. The highly capable support team provided the level of technical complexity, bandwidth for live streaming and SMS text-based bridges to not only attempt, but completely nail the required production elements. Together they have established themselves as some of the top innovators in crowdsourced musical performance, evidenced by the second totally interactive UMBowl.
UM’s plan for their social experiment began with their S2 or “Stew Art” Series Interactive performances, named after their jams which pay tribute to an evening of improvisational practice in the empty Jimmy Stewart Ballroom at the Pittsburgh Renaissance Hotel. The special events, held for a limited number of fans prior to the band’s regular gigs, are driven by live interaction with the fans via text messaging on the Mozes platform. To continue to build on the success of these events, and grow their unique level of engaging, two-way communication and collaboration with the crowd, UM last year introduced the “UMBowl” concept, four quarters of crowdsourced rock designed to thrill the audience in completely fan-centric ways.
READ ON for more on Umphrey’s UMBowl II…
