November 2009 - Posts
After spending time during the day to construct a set list, you might wonder, why does the set list sometimes change as it gets played out? I thought I'd give a little bit of insight with some of the different reasons things go down the way they do.
There are a lot of different reasons why things change. Sometimes we're feeding off the energy of the room and want a different direction or we've naturally arrived at another song's groove. But I would say the vast majority of changes have to do with curfew issues. Sometimes it's hard to predict when an extended 20 minute version of a song will emerge and things get stretched out, affecting the next things we've plotted. Over the years, we've grown to realize that it's generally better to take our time with a section or improvisation rather than squeeze too much into a set. And for some songs, they're just more likely to get cut. All Things Ninja, 13 Days and Out of Order are the most popular ones to fall into that distinguished category, and sometimes, it's been almost comical as we've cut a particular song three to four nights in a row. We've also established the "cut spot" in the set list, usually the 2nd or 3rd to last slot where things will be most likely to get the axe. That's where you'll see Ninja all the time. So, onto some examples.
The set list that starts with Bridgeless, which was from Eureka on the West coast tour is a good example of making a curfew adjustment. In the first set, we had a few points of improvisation, and by the time we got to where 2nd Self and Cold Smoke were supposed to happen, we were going to go well over the length the set was supposed to be, and we had only allowed for a 20 minute set break as it was. The groove we had reached in Utopian Fir was a similar tempo to Uncle Wally, so I suggested we segue into Wally instead, keeping the flow going and allowing us to end the set with the 2nd half of Bridgeless, keeping the set sandwich alive. In the 2nd set of this show, we felt that Thin Air was going to be too mellow for that point in the night and elected to skip ahead to Smell the Mitten, a funkier tune. By the time we got to the end of Nirvana's In Bloom, we felt we needed something that grooved a little bit harder and had more edge than The Fuzz, and were able to use Red Tape, one of our more open-ended songs from the Mantis material, to get back to JaJunk.
Another interesting and very altered set list happened at Las Tortugas night one in Yosemite during our Halloween run. Earlier in the day, we got word that Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead was interested in sitting in, so we invited him to our rehearsal that night in our cabin. We taught Bill Professor Wormbog and even rehearsed it with him, so the sit in seemed like it was a lock. Alas, Bill didn't feel very well by 3 am, and we had to wait until Saturday to get him up on the kit. But Ivan Neville was hangin out side of stage at that point. He's added keys to many shows in the past, and is a lot of fun to collaborate with. So Jake, Brendan and Ryan discussed how to best make it happen in the talkback mics while I worked with Bob to fix some gear between songs. We did the Police track When the World Is Running Down You Make the Best of What's Still Around to bring the tempo back up and then started Utopian Fir, which sequed into Glory. Ivan came out at the end of Glory and killed it. We had a blast tradin riffs with him as usual. Having him at the end of Glory gave us a good opportunity to groove with him in the key of E and get back to the final section of Utopian before launching into Plunger to end the set on a dynamic and powerful section. Sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to alter a set list on the spot that works in the time you're given, but occasionally, it works out perfectly like it did at Yosemite, and the flow of the night goes just where it needs to go.
The discussion in the talkback microphones as this unfolded:
The other West coast set list example is from Spokane, where the first set again ran longer than we anticipated. Instead of forcing an abbreviated finish to the 2nd half of DBK, which we knew we could finish later, we decided to take our time with The Triple Wide and use that as a set closer. At some point in The Triple Wide, we brought up the potential set list change in the talk backs and then extended the improvisation and really tried to make the most of the moment there. We've really enjoyed opening up Professor Wormbog lately, and we skipped ahead to that one in the 2nd set as we were feeling the audience needed some more "Groof" as Jens Hannemann, satirical drummer/comedian would say. And then we found a good spot to return to DBK and finish the song after the improvisation that followed Intentions Clear. We felt ending the set with Comfortably Numb would work instead of Plunger, as it's one of our more recognizable covers with a crushing guitar solo finish.
We again ran into some curfew issues at the end of this show. We ideally need about 3:30 total to play a comfortable show, but sometimes that can't happen if there is an early curfew on a weekday where you don't want to start a show too early. The main thing is that we try to set ourselves up to play as much as we can for you guys in every scenario. In this case, we decided to nix Ringo from the encore slot as we only had about 12 minutes before hard curfew, which wouldn't allow Ringo to flourish in all of the ways possible. At the same time, we wanted to play as much music as possible for the fans, so we came up with the idea of playing Got Your Milk > Walletsworth. It was certainly a unique encore, and while Ringo wasn't able to happen this time, saving it for a space better suited toward taking our time through the sections seemed like a good call.
Talkback montage of setlist banter:
I hope that gives you a little insight into how things can shift around for us and how we go about changing the original plan. In the topsy turvy world of rock n roll, you can never be sure what lies just around the corner.
-joel
We could think of no better venue to finish off the 2009 Stew Art Series than the 9:30 Club in our Nation's Capital. The final (S2) event was another great afternoon in crowd sourced improvisation. We'd really like to thank all of you who took the chance and participated in the 4 (S2) events we've held from coast to coast this fall. The reception has been unbelievable and the fun we are having with this reminds us just how fortunate we are to have the best fans in the biz. We are going to be planning our strategy for 2010 shortly and continue to work on the evolution of these events (more ideas in the works). Here was the total list of used text for this past event. Additionally, you'll find a few additional texts at the bottom that never made it on screen but were entertaining none the less.
9:30 Club, Washington DC
November 21, 2009
Improv #1
slayer plays techno
found nemo in a sushi roll
Johnny cash vs. Jerry Garcia
darth vader on ecstacy
Brazilian baby making melodies
Baby. Honey. Metal. Darling.
reggae jazz club
Running to make it to the
bathroom before you puke
parachute won't open, noooooo
Improv #2
sesame shakedown street
the fro vs the rat tail
drugs with instructions
evil Christmas
d.c. Jimmy page meets Mozart
disco biscuits play prog-rock
joel plays the moog like its 1978
Backseat of car->first
base->second base->third base->heading home!
arpeggio overload
cemetery sprint II
its a sausage fest lets hear it 4
the girls!
brendan and jake play each
other's rigs
Improv #3
napoleon dynamite in a porno
Kung Fu Challenge: Yngwie
Malmsteen vs John Tesh
waful makes me dizzy
wappy jazzberry
firefight on a merry go round
tours almost over going home
bee gees play your wedding
untz party at brendan's house
jajunk in the trunk
don't let the wooks backstage
kris myers vs. andy farag
Improv #4
Cousin Eli meets dr dre in a dark
alley
love child of mastadon and miss
tinkle
guy in the crowd who doesn't get
any texts put on screen
sexy party
leaving a flaming bag of poo then
running for your life
the future?
Talkback mic confusion
The walk of shame
Brendan bayliss after too much
Jameson
Umphrey's fight song
That's it joell...you're out of the
band!
Summon the gods!
Unused
Huey Lewis on acid
picking up a working girl then realizing shes a dude
star tangled banter
jake refuses my mom's latin advances
string cheese incident covers britney spears
someone make ryan sing
the Washington monument is falling!!
Bacon, it's whats for breakfast, lunch and dinner
Joel Food II
This is the money you could be saving with geico
chinese food tears me up
Kung Fu Challenge: Pink Floyd vs Mahavishnu
Question
and Answer
Decisions, decisions
Post event hang
j
Apologies for the lack of audio on this post. Impossible this morning due to travel logistics.
Thanks to Kevin Langan for the pictures
Three down, one to go.
Higher Ground was home to the third installment of our Stew Art Series this past Friday in Burlington. Each event continues to unfold its own unique way and this was no exception. A rowdy and energetic crowd came well armed with an arsenal of great ideas and probably the best set of questions we've seen to date. 461 total texts came in during the 65 minute event which made the selections more difficult than ever. But that's how we like it, the more the merrier. Below is the complete listing of used themes from the event with a few bits of accompanying audio. I included a couple of snippets of talk back mics in the first audio clip for your listening pleasure. (Another exclusive talk back post coming soon per your requests)
Snippet of Metal Overload > Campfire Sing Along
Improv #1
Daft Punk doe Celtic
Friday the 13th
Egyptian Sexy Time!!
Hippy Losing Joint
Salsa Showdown in Tiajuana
Angry Oompa Loompas
Metal Overload
Campfire Sing Along
Snippet of Underwater Baroque Ball
Improv #2
Bounce
Pulp Friction
John Lee Hooker in a Strip Club
Something Quite Fancy
Underwater Baroque Ball
Boiling Water
Thanksgiving Dinner Coma
Gangster Bake Sale
Silent But Deadly
Snippet of Gangster Bake Sale
Improv #3
Headie Birthday Bass Solo
Orfeo/Kimble Cage Match
triple time
freezing cold in Canada
Holes in the Wall of your rented apartment
Soaring Deeply
Tool Mellowed Out
Lake Champlain Monster is Hungry
Bust Out the Pedals You Use Least
We Need More Cowbell
Joel is Young Again
Super Mario Hunting Party
Improv #4
Running from Security at Higher Ground
Slap Da Bass Mon
S2 is my 1st Umphreys show
BB, Andy, Joel vs. Ryan, Kris, & Jake
take me to my dark place
technical difficulties
Highly entertaining border crossing this morning at 4:30AM after returning from the gig in Toronto. This hard ass from Homeland Security finally settled down after tour guide extraordinaire Don Richards convinced him we weren't smuggling beaver pelts across the border. Note the humorous look on his face when he comes across Waful's name. And had I known there was a 2nd agent on the bus I might not have tried to follow him into the back lounge but all is well that ends well.
"We're Going To Be Friends" -Acoustic Christmas 2005
USTORM (United So Together Our Reach Multiplies) is gearing up to raise some more badly needed cash, FOR THE KIDS! In case you aren't aware, USTORM was founded by our very own Brendan Bayliss and a few friends with the idea of raising money for music and art educational programs for children and young adults. Thanks to the efforts of Keith Portman, USTORM has a snazzy new website - check it out - www.ustorm.org
Coming up in December is The 7th Annual Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger Acoustic Show at The Park West in Chicago on Sat, Dec. 5th. This evening is always a ton of fun and USTORM has a couple special ways for you to help raise some more cash (for the kids! - see the theme here people??)
RESERVE YOUR OWN BOOTH - Swanky leather booths are available for you and your group. Smaller booths can fit up to 4 people ($30) and larger booths can fit up to 6 ($50). You could also opt for the VIP Premium Bar Package (21 and over). For just $75, you'll get VIP balcony seating, open bar from 7pm until the end of the show (around 3.5 - 4 hours total), of course your ticket to the show is included, and some snacks thrown in for good measure! This is a great deal if you're planning on having some libations (just don't drink and drive please!)
Booth reservations can be made by calling the Park West after you've bought your tickets to the show (773-929-1330). VIP tickets may be purchased at the PW box office or thru
ticketmaster.com.
Remember to bring some extra cash to the show so you can enter USTORM's fantastic raffle, where LOTS of great prizes can be won (our raffles have a history of great prizes, and this one will be no different....) You can also win great prizes at the USTORM raffle on Dec. 30th at Umphrey's McGee at The Aragon Ballroom....so save up some cash (say it with me now.....FOR THE KIDS!) and we'll look forward to seeing you in a few short weeks!
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"Doctor" -Acoustic Christmas 2005
"End of the Road" 10/29/09
"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life." -John Muir
El Capitan: 3300 feet of sublime strength
Jake, Brendan, Kevin & Joel soaking it in
Bridal Veil Falls
"But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite. Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life. Some lean back in majestic repose; others, absolutely sheer or nearly so for thousands of feet, advance beyond their companions in thoughtful attitudes, giving welcome to storms and calms alike, seemingly aware, yet heedless, of everything going on about them." -John Muir
Half Dome
Upper Yosemite Falls
Honeycomb waters of the Merced River
The team ascends up Lower Yosemite Falls
The view of Half Dome from Lower Yosemite Falls
Balls Deep
The Valley floor beyond Lower Yosemite Falls
Right of way
Toulumne Sequoia
A walk in the woods
20 feet in diameter
Hetch Hetchy at sunset and moonrise
Las Tortugas Festival is really two events in one. On one hand you have the best intimate music festival you could ask for with cozy venues, awesome onsite cabins, great food and a stellar location. One the other hand you have one of the most beautiful places on earth right in the back yard. Days are filled with National Park exploration while nights are filled with music and wild times. Part I is a look at our shows while Part II will be dedicated to the what John Muir referred to as "the grandest of all special temples of nature."
We continued our Halloween mash up tradition by performing a handful of original mash ups combining both UM originals and covers ranging from Corey Hart to Metallica. Check out the full show and all the mash ups at umlive.net but here is a clip of the last rehearsal of "Sweet Sunglasses" prior to show time. Eurythmics + Corey Hart + MGMT = Awesometown.
A few shots from 10/30...
Joel & Ivan Neville clearly captivated by stage left
Discohead
From left to right: Payne Stewart Copeland, George Harrison Ford, Captain Kirk Hammett, Dirty Harry Caray, Brett Michaels Jackson, Wizard of Ozzie Guillen
Hard to take these guys seriously really
The view from the sound board
For those of you who just can't bring yourself to actually work on this Monday morning, grab a cup of coffee, make sure your boss isn't looking and settle into this 90 minute video of Brendan and Jake giving a guitar clinic at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. (Clinic starts about 13 minutes in)
And for those of you have slightly less time to procrastinate this Monday, check out this first time cover of Bob Seger's "Hollywood Nights" from the HOB on Sunset Strip. Right song, right place, right time. Worth your $0.99 I assure you.