Umphrey’s McGee Finds New LA Home, The Wiltern Theater

Umphrey’s McGee Finds New LA Home;

The Wiltern Theater

As they say, goldfish grow to the size of their tank.  Give them a bigger bowl to swim in and they’ll get bigger.  Keep them in the tiny bowl, they’ll stay the same size.  Thankfully, Umphrey’s McGee found a bigger fish bowl in LA to do some swimming in this year as it was clear that their girth had far outgrown their annual LA home, the House of Blues in Hollywood.  This year, they got a much bigger bowl, The Wiltern Theater, to swim in and it was clear that the band, and the crowd, were happy with their new accommodations.

As predictable as the seasons, LA Umphans know that when St. Patrick’s Day weekend rolls around, they’re going to get an Umphrey’s McGee show in LA.  It’s been this way for quite a few years now and those of us in Southern California who look forward to their annual visit certainly wish it was more often than once a year.  This year So Cal got San Diego and Los Angeles stops on the UM tour before bidding fare thee well to the boys from Chicago-land for another 12 months.

I’ve seen many a show at the Wiltern.  A nearly 100 year old art deco landmark theater in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles, the Wiltern has hosted a long list of great shows over the years.  I recall a three night run of String Cheese Incident there a few years back as well as Widespread Panic around the same time.  A much more phriendly venue than the cluster-f*ck that is the House of Blues, Sunset.  While the Umphrey’s McGee show was near capacity, there still was ample room to roam about and find a seat in the upper balcony if you wanted to escape the very crowded floor level.  I caught the first set perched strategically in front of Jefferson Waful and the light board.  I’m a big fan of Waful’s work as Lighting Designer for Umphrey’s McGee.  His lighting design incorporates wonderful geometric designs in light beams and an amazing grasp of the color palette.  The Wiltern show was no exception.  A color explosion on stage.  UM calls him the 7th man and I certainly agree that the light work he does is like another instrument in the band.

When they play their music, that hard rock music
They like it with a lot of flash…

First set opened up heavy and stayed heavy through nearly the whole set.  Now, when I say heavy, I mean hard driving distortion heavy, hard rock drum double kick and angst infused music.  Clearly a carry over from San Diego which many fans commented was a very heavy show from start to finish.  Don’t get me wrong, heavy isn’t bad, just a strong statement as a jump off to the night versus easing everyone into it.  Smack you in the face and tell you we’re in the house kinda statement.  As Huey Lewis said, “But it’s still got that same old back beat rhythm that really kicks ’em in the…”

It certainly got the blood pumping and the crowd moving.  By set end and when everyone had their brains blown out of the back of their head, Umphrey’s brought the whole room back to Earth and flashed us all back to the 80’s with a cover of Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”, best known from the opening and closing of the movie The Breakfast Club.  The only thing better than the song was Brenden Bayliss’ mid song speech about throwing up in his t-shirt at a high school party.  We’ve all been there…well, maybe not exactly there but I feel ya Bayliss!

WATCH “DON’T YOU (FORGET ABOUT ME)” HERE

A nice way to send everyone out for a break.  The horn section from the opening band, California Honeydrops, set up an impromptu jam in the smoking patio during set break providing some halftime ambiance whilst everyone got some “fresh air”.

Keep On With The Force Don’t Stop

Set Two eased everyone back into the mood with a spacy jam of “Nothing Too Fancy”, a stark contrast to the first set.  It stayed there all second set as Umphrey’s took this opportunity to send the room into the upper stratosphere with long melodic jams and digging deep into their personal musical history book.  Spinning that “NTF” into a long medley which included “The Floor>Glory>The Floor” got the psychedelic juices flowing, all complimented by Waful’s brilliant colors.  Midway through second set the band dove deep into their catalog and pulled out a musical time warp with an UM stamped instrumental “Norwegian Wood” by the Beatles book ended by their song “Resolution”.  That was immediately followed by the horn section from the California Honeydrops to cover Michael Jackson’s “Can’t Stop Til You Get Enough”.

The encore ended as it all started with Haji into JaJunk to close out their stay in So Cal, the night at the Wiltern and left us all wanting more UM!  I believe I speak for all of the Umphamily in Southern California when I say, “Please come back REAL SOON!”

The California Honeydrops from Oakland, CA opened the show.

See the full gallery of photos on ShakedownNews Facebook Page HERE!

SETLIST

Umphrey’s McGee, 3/15/2014

SET 1:  Bathing Digits>JaJunk, No Diablo, Day Nurse, Linear>Ocean Billy, Bad Friday, Tribute to Spinal Shaft, Don’t You (Forget About Me)*

SET 2:  Nothing Too Fancy>The Floor>Glory>The Floor, All In Time, Resolution>Norwegian Wood Tease^>Revolution, Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough #@, Nothing Too Fancy

Encore:  Haji>JaJunk

*Simple Minds

^Beatles

#Michael Jackson

@w/ California Honey Drops horns