Umphrey’s McGee Shook the House of Blues in Hollywood on St. Patrick’s Day

Now what else would be better on St. Patrick’s Day than to go see a band with “Mc” in the name. You’d expect fiddles and Irish drinking songs. Oh no, not Umphrey’s McGee.  The “Mc” in their name and the green beer at the bar were as Irish as they’re show got.  Nun-the-less, UM rocked the house to the point of nearly shaking the bottles of booze off the shelf in the upstairs bar as they delighted a, seemingly, over capacity crowd at the House of Blues.

Coming right out of the gate with “Nothing Too Fancy” into “In The Kitchen” set the tone for the night; it’s a party on St. Patrick’s Day!  “In The Kitchen,” likely one of their more recognizable songs for the UM layman, can be heard on XM/Sirius Radio’s Jam On station on a pretty regular basis.  The first set was capped off with UM going back into “Nothing Too Fancy” bringing a full circle closure to the first set.

Second set came out just as strong as the first with “Ringo” into a booming version of The Who’s “Eminece Front” back into Ringo with the appearance of Big Gigantic’s Dominic Lalli on saxophone adding an extra bit of mustard on an already rockin’ jam.  The booming bass on Ringo literally shook the building to the point of causing the liquor in the bottles behind the bar to sway.  If you put a Richter scale on the House of Blues, there’s no doubt they pinned the needle.

It’s hard to believe that this great band from Chicago isn’t on everyone’s radar and from the over capacity crowd at the HOB in Hollywood, there’s not many.  UM brings a blend of high energy rock and stratosphere bending jams all from 6 amazingly talented musicians.  It’s hard to key in on one particular member of the band because they’ll all melt your face in their own unique way.  Way to go UM!  Thanks for coming to LA.  Come back soon!

Setlist 3/17/2011, House of Blues, Hollywood, CA

More photos from the Umphrey’s McGee show on Shakedown News Facebook Page!