Umphrey's McGee 12/30/10 Riviera Theatre - Chicago, IL

Umphrey's McGee
12/30/10
Riviera Theatre
Chicago, IL

I: Prowler > The Bottom Half, 2 x 2, Jajunk, Apeman, Mulche's Odyssey

II: Preamble > Mantis > Hangover, Roundabout, Pay the Snucka, August, Gulf Stream, Fussy Dutchman > Mantis, The Floor

E: Resolution > Pay the Snucka


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We spent the day relaxing watching college football.  We ate delivery from the Fifty/50 for dinner.  The balcony was crowded when we arrived.  They started about 8:15.  The weather was rainy but obviously much more mild than what I'd experienced out east. 

Prowler was an old school start to the night.  The Bottom Half had a decent jam in the middle.  2x2 was another strong version.  Jajunk was the highlight of the show with several intersting grooves.  Apeman was a The Kinks cover that they hadn't played in ages.  I wasn't familiar with that one.  Mulche's Odyssey had some improv and was a nice high energy set closer.  This was a well played set of UM while those weren't my favorite songs necessarily.

The second set started with the Preamble to Mantis before they went off on a tangent into Hangover while leaving Mantis unfinished.  At this point they finally played a full on version of Yes's Roundabout.  This was well done.  It was a nice homage to one of their progressive rock influences.  They've teased around with Roundabout their whole career.  An improv heavy Snucka followed that they stopped after the Splittin' Aces part.  August also had plenty of jamming.  Gulf Stream was expected during the run at some point.  My frrend Jenny mentioned the 11/10/07 show when that "Jimmy Stewart" first appeared.  It's been fun to see that evolve.  That was a high octane rendition of Fussy Dutchman.  As soon as that ended they finished up Mantis.  I thought that would be the end of the set but they played The Floor to close things out which worked well.  Resolution had some nice improv even in the encore slot and predictably they finished up the Pay the Snucka pt. III to end the night.  This was a fun show but my initial thoughts were that I preferred Wednesday more.