Image via YouTube.

Over the weekend, Umphrey’s McGee took over Boston’s House of Blues for the long-awaited celebration of the band’s defining idiosyncrasies and devoted community known as UMBowl. The 10th annual presentation of this beloved event–and the first since 2022–made up for lost time and exceeded titanic expectations with a bottomless buffet of fan service through the course of two nights and six sets. With debuts, bust-outs, and weirdness galore, UM made history and reaffirmed its tremendous commitment to its community all at once.

Umphrey’s kicked off its series on Friday, April 26, with its one and only “Band’s Choice” set of the weekend, carefully wading into the uncharted waters of UMBowl X with a concluding medley that fit “The Triple Wide” within two treatments of “Bridgeless.” The band then opened to the audience for the traditional “Stew Art Event,” in which the band performs a fully improvised set cued by interpretive audience suggestions submitted via text and displayed on screens across the venue; some highlights from this year’s field of audience directives were “Party on a beach in Morocco,” “Lights dictate the jam,” “Just learned how to play last week” and “Play your favorite song,” which somehow elicited Peter, Paul and Mary’s “Puff, the Magic Dragon.”

The sextet wrapped night one with an All Night Wrong set, collecting some of its fan-favorite repeat covers and digging deep in its discography for long-lost gems. This set was composed almost entirely of bust-outs, as the band revived Yes’ “Roundabout,” Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne,” Stone Temple Pilots’ “Plush” and “Hunger Strike” (performed for the third and second time, respectively) and finally the set third-ever staging of The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa.” After this riotous show closer, Umphrey’s came back to put a cherry on top with an encore of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer.”

UM built on this sky-high excitement on Saturday, April 27, first by proving its cinematic reference catalog to be just as deep as its famously vast canon of music references. After taking the stage, the band erupted into a “Live Scoring Set,” in which it jammed along to projections of clips from Nosferatu, Pulp Fiction, The Blues Brothers, Interstellar, Caddyshack and more. Next, the group brought on an “All New Set,” featuring a debut cover of Dire Straits’ “Sultans of Swing” and “House of Better Glass,” a new mash-up of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” House of Pain’s “Jump Around” and Tame Impala’s “The Less I Know the Better.” This set also spotlighted first-time original stagings of 2022’s Asking For a Friend closer “Work Sauce” and “Concessions,” a hybrid of three memorable “Jimmy Stewarts.”

The final performance of UMBowl X was a “Choose Your Own Adventure” set, in which the audience voted live for which songs they would like to hear within a six-track string of classics; somewhere along the way, bassist Ryan Stasik opted to smash frontman Brendan Bayliss’ acoustic guitar onstage. After this uniquely democratic set, the band brought out one final movie clip, pairing a scene from Top Gun with a debut cover of Harold Faltermeyer’s original theme for the film and merging into “1348” for one last surprise.

Umphrey’s McGee will perform again on May 16 at Fayetteville, Ark.’s JJ’s Live, running directly into its spring-summer tour. For more information on upcoming engagements, visit umphreys.com/tour/ 

Watch UM’s Top Gun tribute below.

Umphrey’s McGee
House of Blues – Boston
4/26/24

Set I: Staircase > 40’s Theme, Bridgeless > The Triple Wide > Bridgeless*
Set II: Stew Art Event+
Set III: Roundabout, Kid Charlemagne > Plush, Cult of Personality, Hunger Strike > No More Tears, Big Poppa[1]#
Encore: Tom Sawyer

Notes:
* First set was “Band’s Choice”
+ Second set was a “Stew Art Event”: Drum and brace yourself > Party on a beach in Morocco > Sludge and dub > Jake conducts > Medeski, Martin & Umphrey’s [with All In Time, Q*Bert, and Mail Package teases] > Follow the Ben > Lights dictate the jam > Just learned how to play last week > Chicago Subway at Midnight > 1 string only, Everyone on keys, Now the drums!, Play your favorite song [performed as Puff the Magic Dragon (Peter, Paul and Mary)], Daring Escape
# Third set was an “All Night Wrong” cover set

Umphrey’s McGee
House of Blues – Boston
4/27/24

Set I: Live scoring (Nosferatu, Mad Max: Fury Road, Pulp Fiction, The Blues Brothers, Pan s Labyrinth, Interstellar, Caddyshack, Kill Bill: Volume 1)%
Set II: Sultans of Swing* > Concessions#, Work Sauce#, House of Better Glass^$
Set III: 1348~ > Glory > Bad Friday > Night Nurse > Making Flippy Floppy, Plunger
Encore: Top Gun Anthem@ > 1348&

Notes:
* debut, Dire Straits’ “Sultans of Swing”
# debut, original
^ debut, Jump Around (House of Pain) + House of Glass (Blondie) + The Less I Know the Better (Tame Impala) mash-up
~ with Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (Michael Jackson) and Simple Gifts (Brackett) teases
@ debut, Harold Faltermeyer’s “Top Gun Anthem”
% First set was a “Live Scoring Set,” with the band performing original music to movie clips
$ Second set was “All New,” with the debut of every song; Concessions comprised of past “Jimmy Stewarts” [2014-01-18 1348 + 2007-09-14 Nemo + 2023-01-14 The Silent Type]
& Third set was “choose your own adventure,” with attendees voting for the next “adventure” live: 1348 or Escape Goat; Glory >, Kula >, or Kimble >; Miami Virtue or Bad Friday; Day Nurse or Night Nurse; Making Flippy Floppy or Girlfriend Is Better; Educated Guess, Plunger, or Maybe Someday

Setlists via allthings.umphreys.com/setlists/