Umphrey's Day Set

I guess you can think of this as a Memento post: Let's start with the end first and work our way backward.

Just before leaving the stage, Bayliss announced Umphrey's McGee will officially be playing Summer Stage at Central Park some time, well, this summer. First they play a free show for the masses outside Grand Central, then they announce a return to one of the coolest places in the city...that's a serious double dose of New York Fan appreciation.

Shortly before the well-received Proclamation of Gig, the band ended the set with an awesome version of Bridgeless, the impressive opener I caught at February's Nokia show. I'm not the biggest UM fan out there -- I really enjoy their shows, but I only occasionally listen to them outside a venue -- but I try to listen to that Bridgeless at least once a week on the way home from work. It's a great subway tune, which is fitting because the New York subway system is about the only place in the city that is indeed bridgeless.

Umph fans throw up the horns after a great set:

As you can see below, the freaky freakies came out in full force for the Earth Day celebration yesterday, including a woman with parrots perched on both hands.

Will Jake survive the parrot-pecking of a lifetime?

Seriously, down in front, parrots. Here's a 30-second video of Bridgeless, with those funky birds gettin' down. And here's another 44-second clip, before our feathered friends distracted the shit out of everybody.

Above and below, Jake does a bit of a Jack in the Box routine before the show officially starts.

At first the street wasn't nearly as crowded as I thought it'd be, and there weren't nearly as many Ari and Uzi Tenenbrahs hangin' out in the front row. Eventually the street filled up, but still, those that made the trip were treated to an incredible afternoon of South Bend flavor.

I'll let the always eloquent BG sum up the UM set perfectly: "Oh, and in a 45 minute set, there were two parrots hanging out in the middle of the crowd, at least one jumbo-sized hoola-fucking-hoop, honest to god one group of hot 19 year old chicks, a Chinese dragon walking through the crowd, a dude beating on a conga drum (I would have stuffed that thing up his ass if he had been within earshot of us), and a stealth taper with mics on his glasses two feet away from us..."

Not bad for 1 pm on a Friday.

04/21/06 Earth Day Fair, New York, NY
In the Kitchen, Utopian Fir > Higgins, Bridgeless

CLICK HERE to download a full video of the day set...

04/21/06 CBGB, New York, NY
Set I: Believe the Lie, Dump City> Got Your Milk (Right Here)> Blue Echo> Dump City, Walletsworth > Glory, Making Flippy Floppy
Set II: 40's Theme, The Bottom Half > JaJunk, The Fussy Dutchman, Marquee Moon5> Eat, Pay the Snucka
Encore: Uncle Wally, Miss Tinkle's Overture

Follow these links to download Set I and Set II of the official CBGB webcast from this show...