so last night i went to my second ever umphreys show. i was already pumped as hell to be going to such a great show, at such a prime location for me at least. i started the night at a party with all the local and not so local bisco and umphreys fans, and about 30 of us all walked in trail of my budy on 3 hits of acid rockin a boombox playing beastie boys all the way to the venue. when we got there, we rocked out to brass monkey before entering the show. they took about 30 minutes to get on stage and i was just comming up on a roll i ate about 15 minutes before getting into the show. the set went as follows: Set One:\tAndy's Last Beer, Divisions > Ringo > Dear Lord > Ringo, Mullet Over, The Haunt > Divisions Set Two:\tBreathe > new song, Hurt Bird Bath, Slacker > Sweetness > Slacker, Alex's House > Prowler > Breathe Encore:\tMuch Obliged > Waiting Room when the second set started, i was rolling really hard and they opened with a super dubbed out reggae version of pink floyds breath, and i had to close my eyes because my face was melting waaaaay too hard. everything they played was amazing. their keyboard player was laying into the deep spacey sounds of his moog synthesizer and over all the show was very dark in theme, and their jams went from being light hearted and slow to a head banging speed metal frenzy, to a disco/techno dance party and then back into a crescendo of awesome guitar and vocal harmony. i am waiting so anxiously to be able to get the set from last night off the umphreys website, just so i can relive how awesome it was. they seemed like they were really focussing more on some of their metal roots, and a lot of the songs broke down in to strait up heavy metal frenzies to which all i could really do was rock the fuck out. when the drummers started to hit their drum pads and those electro-funkified drum sounds started to poke out from the midst of a jam, i knew they were going somewhere good. they finnished the show with an encore of much obliged, which had a wicked moogified soundscape intro, and then BAM!!! they bust into Waiting room by fugazi, one of my favorite side projects from the real hardcore era. for anyone that doesnt know fugazi, they were partly made up of members from minor threat, another hardcore band, after they broke up. the song is so fast and so heavy and so rockin, when the show eneded, i was completley satisfied. i had two rolls in my pocket during the show, only ate one but was offered about 3 hits of acid for free as well as anything else id really want to take, but i decided taht one of these extremely pure rols will be fine, and it was. the first 30 minutes were very overwhelming as i was comming up. me and my friend who both ate the same rolls had some vision blur and slight stomach ache in the come up, but the rolls were so clean, once the peak came, it was just madness. we ended up chillin for like 5 or 6 hours at a scene party with about 30 of the most acid headed, spun out kids youve ever met. if i hadnt have eaten a roll, i doubt i would have been as comfortable with the crowd i was with, they werent my type really, btu it was still awesome. to anyone that enjoys umphreys, or jam/ progressive bands at all, i highly recomend you go see umphreys NOW! or at least check out their recent live sets. i heard rumors of a few atmosphere teasers during the set (an artist im not too familiar with) but the highlights for me were realizing they just played the opening bars of Breath, one of my favorite floyd songs, and then ending the show with the most genre diverse song they could thing of, a hardcore fugazi romp that is waiting room. the crowd was explosive, and i was in the 4th row, 10 feet or less from the stage. every time the bass twanged or the kick drum hit, i could feel it resonate through my whole body. one song, and i wish i remembered the title, they broke into this funked out techno jam and the bass drum sample the drummer was using was cranked so loud it was as if tiesto or aphex just took the stage. definately the best concert ive ever been to, and the closest ive been to the stage of an artist i really enjoy. im already making plans to see them as soon as i can, they are totally on fire this year, and their hard hitting metal jams are out of this world. rock on GC.
oh, and their live at the Murat CD is out now, and i was at the first night of the two recorded shows that made it onto the album. i can personally say that they were rockin in full force that night and you can get the CD for like 10 dollars off their site, on which you can get any of their live shows or CD's via download for very cheap.
Nice looking set list. Nice to see some HBB on there. I'll def. be checking this out on the archive when it gets up. Glad you had fun.
HBB was fucking sick. in the middle of the song my friend (ate one roll and a sugar cube of fine liquid) turns to me and points to his UPS shirt spoof that says HBB. i am checking every few hours for it to come out, it was so awesome.
so the show is up for download. i bought the FLAC's of all the set. that means soundboard quality. Im listening to it now and im at the first song of the second set. breath. its absolutely amazing. i think it was possibly the best set i have personally heard upmphreys play on either a live show or in person. its no doubt the best show ive ever seen and if you are at all a fan, this is the show to download. at least download the version of breath because it is phenominal.