Bear Creek Music Festival: Part II
Part II: Joel Montana & the set list express
I awoke day 2 to more sunshine and more football. The previous night had concluded with some epic smack talk from our good friend Adam Perry, the bassist of Perpetual Groove. While music is what brings Umphrey's McGee together day-in, day-out, sports has to be second on that list of things we enjoy doing together, whether its training for triathlons or hittin' the golf course. And we have an immense sense of pride about not losing sporting events to other bands. We've challenged moe. in basketball and paintball. UM 2, moe. 0. We challenged Bisco to football, UM 1, Bisco 0. We haven't had another band challenge us to a Ryder Cup style match of golf, but we're ready for whoever wants to take us on. So when Adam brought up a friendly game of football between UM and Pgroove, we were happy to oblige. We found a suitable field in the VIP section but didn't have enough players for a 5 on 5 game, so we had to recruit a few people back there. Thankfully, we found two stellar players in Will and Dustin (great stache, dude), who just happened to be strolling by, and they joined Ryan, Andy and I in our quest to remain undefeated vs. other bands. Brendan would have played, but he had to film a segment for our forthcoming Wellwishers video. He, Kevin and LD / filmographer Jefferson Waful chose to film just on the other side of the field, and you will witness some of our glory in that video. Quick side note, I always liked football as a kid, but my parents would never let me play because they were afraid I'd break my fingers and ruin my ability to play piano. So I've been throwing passes for years just waiting for my chance to step into the fold. Somehow, I learned how to throw a spiral and have a pretty good arm, probably due to playing baseball as a kid. Andy affectionately nicknamed me "Joel Montana" a few years back after some accurate and powerful strikes to various band members in parking lots and grassy fields near venues. Finally, I had my chance at Bear Creek.
And as you all hoped, the Umphrey's McGee team did not disappoint. We played to Pgroove's weakness; we had a hunch there was some shoddy conditioning in there, so long routes and relentless passing attack was the game plan. We dominated, beating them 7 touchdowns to 3, and I was able to throw for 5 touchdowns, rush for 1 and receive one once Stasik came in at QB for some mop up duty. And most importantly, my fingers were intact. Thanks for making me wait 20 years for this, mom.
Inspired, we headed back to the bus and I tried my hand at knocking out the final set list of fall tour. For much of the fall tour, I've been in set list jail for attempting too many segues, too many crazy things, or as many in the band affectionately like to say, making the set list look like an archery field (>>>>>). So I had to step up and deliver with my last chance of the fall. As we had many of our friends here, it was challenging balance trying to plan for guests and keep the energy and momentum intact as Umphrey's McGee, the six-headed monster. After tonight's rehearsal, which was focused around relearning Barracuda for Jen Hartswick to sing with us, I high-tailed it back to our stage for a really exciting Everyone Orchestra set. I got to say hi to some old friends, including Kai Eckhardt, Fareed Haque and Jans Ingber, and made a few new ones, including Kofi Burbridge. I had about 30 minutes between the EO set and UM set, and it was back to the bus to warm up for a bit and revisit the setlist and order of guests. Fortunately, tonight's guests were all fantastic and flowed right into the natural vibe of our set.
Opening with the skull-crushing 1348 is always a fun choice, as you get the dark side of the band, the melodic side of the band and a huge backbeat from kit-slayer Kris Myers. Following a jaunt through Resolution, which featured some group improv, we launched into our newest original, Wellwishers, for a concise but energized performance. And then the craziness began. As previously mentioned, I've always been a fan of unique segues and sandwiches with songs, and one I've always wanted us to try was sticking the Talking Heads' Making Flippy Floppy in the middle of our tune, Hurt Bird Bath, as the tempos are very close and the key signatures feature the same root, G. Watching the fans' surprise as we launched into MFF was a real treat, and seeing them get where we were going as we headed back into the signature HBB riff brought just as big of a smile to my face: we had pulled it off. Then came the swampy groove of Women Wine & Song, featuring our friend Roosevet Collier of the Lee Boys trading bluesy riffs with Jake and Brendan. Pedal steel is always a treat to hear, and Roosevelt is one of the most genuine, gutsy players out there. Following the down-tempo groove of WWS, we blasted into Nothing Too Fancy.
Early in the song, I got word that Bernie Worrell was side stage--we had invited him to sit in and he was here! Bernie is a hero of mine, and before this night, we had never gotten to play together. Well, not only did Bernie show up and KILL it, he had Ivan Neville with him in tow. Finally, I had the guitarists outnumbered! Ivan and I have played together a lot over the years, and he is always a joy to play with. He told me later that night that he and Bernie were hangin' out listening to Soulive when Bernie brought up to him that a band called Umphrey's McGee had asked him to sit in and he was wondering if he should do it. Ivan insisted, grabbed Bernie, looked for a ride to our stage, and when they couldn't find one, commandeered a golf cart and headed off into the night to come find us. I think he was just as excited about the whole thing as I was. We finished what was N2F with some hits, hugs and laughs, and the sit in was history. What an honor it was for me, and for our band to share the stage with both Bernie and Ivan at the same time. With less than 30 minutes left in the set, Jake hit the solitary E note on his six string that signifies the beginning of Ocean Billy and we were back to prog land. As time was running out, we cut the improv a little bit short so we could get Jen out and she destroyed Barracuda, as she always does. We had to choose between finishing Ocean Billy and gettin a little more fun and funk out with Hangover, so we went with the latter so that we didn't go over our set time and cut into our friends, the New Mastersounds' set. As the last notes of Hangover rang out through the tent, we left the stage with smiles on our faces, exhausted but knowing we had left it all out on the stage. Bear Creek was the perfect finish to another fall tour, with lots of friends, lots of fans and a whole lot of great music from musicians who were happy to have one more festival in 2010.