[atlantaprog] Re: NARAS, Umphree's McGee

Allen wrote:

I want to echo Brian's comments on Umphree's Mcgee. I think it's very likely that this was the last chance to see them at a Variety-type venue. They're easily liable to be doing shed tours with folks following them around the country within a year or two - and the fact they they unabashedly let their prog-influences show through bodes well for the future of the prog-genre. It's fascinating to me how open and responsive the jam-band crowd is, compared to the often-snobby prog crowd.

Well, it's not as if they gave the audience *that* much in the way of "prog influence"--I mean, one of their two covers was "Black Water", which they did quite well, actually (including the vocals at the end). To be honest, I expected to hear a MUCH more adventurous band than the one I heard--maybe not Fiji Mariners-level, but not far from it. It was mostly two-chord jamming--good two-chord jamming with a lead guitarist who can really play, but not *that* much more.

Brian wrote:

Imagine a mixture of Steely Dan, They Might Be Giants, Frank Zappa, 80's era King Crimson, Return To Forever, and Phish.

And Phish. And more Phish. And a touch of Phish. With some subtle Phish influences.

OK, they did a Chick Corea cover, and the guitarist would occasionally throw in a "Frame By Frame"--like figure in there. And one 7/8 passage. But I just didn't hear this grand fusion everyone's hailing. (Unless the second set was radically different from the first, that is. I took up the band's offer; better me than someone who really wanted to be there and had been waiting for weeks.)

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