It's been a strange summer in certain regards. The Phish shows I saw in June were enjoyable experiences. The road trips went about as smoothly as possible. I think after 17 years I'm starting to get the hang of this. However, musically I was underwhelmed by the Phish output. So fast forward a month without any live music. That's the first July without concerts for me since 1998. I've now turned 35 years old. I worked my 8th season of pollinating. The weather was very hot the last few weeks. My attempt to work a second job at Casey's led to me burning the candle at both ends. Having ended that brief return to food service I was able to reassess what's important. I really enjoy the corn research work and it's allowed me the freedom to see as much live music as possible.
In 2017 though I intend to find a full time job in the Quad Cities or Denver. I'm keeping my options open. My parents have done enough. I want to allow them time to themselves. We wrapped up the summer work on Thursday with a roadtrip that took us to Washington, IA and Macomb, IL. So I was actually further south of Peoria earlier in the day. The timing was nice so I would have Friday off. I listened to the David Gilmour self titled album both ways. Since I went to Colorado last Labor Day I've pretty much been grinding continuously with one job or another. Even the time off I took I spent flying to New York City for Phish and The Disco Biscuits and having surgery on an infected pilonidal cyst. The days off I took in June I spent driving home all night from Minnesota and Indianapolis. It's important to get enough sleep, eat properly, and to exercise. I got away from these principals while attempting to work too much while not maintaining my engine. This August I'm going to recharge my batteries.
So I got back from Macomb around 3 pm and took a few hours to clean up. Then I got back on I-74 and made the easy journey down to the Peoria riverfront. The venue is the last exit before the Illinois River. I love this venue because it's easy to get to and parking is free and convenient. I talked to Ian Goldberg before the show. In retrospect I wished I'd thanked him for putting on shows at this location over the years. Doc and Troy arrived just after me in the lot. They kicked me down a Red Bull as we saw Scott and Adam who I was seated next to at the first night of Wrigley Field Phish. The sun was going down but it was extremely hot with temps still in the high 80s. For whatever reason this show was not at the traditional CEFCU Stage by the river but rather on the other side of the depot at the James W. Baldwin Festival Park grounds. This location is more spread out and offers some shade. I'd seen them here before when the other stage flooded several years ago. The opening act The Main Squeeze was pretty decent. I saw Leander and Nickmo. It'd been a while for me since I'd talked to them. I got burnt out on Umphrey's. Too many Higgins, Plungers, Bottom Halfs. However, it seemed like there were a lot of older long time fans in attendance and the band responded with a setlist appropriate of such an occasion.
They opened with an instrumental version of The Message by Grandmaster Flash around 7:45. Then the rest of the first set was an All in Time sandwich. Hourglass and Educated Guess were two newer songs in the first set that I really enjoyed. The whole show had a pretty heavy theme. Eat and its King Crimson-like prog rock was juxtaposed with the gorgeous piano playing of Joel Cummins during Orfeo. I saw Cory from Iowa and also Isaac who I used to work with at Fareway. Apparently they played In a Silent Way? It sounded like tuning to me. Push the Pig reminds me of seeing UM back at the Union Bar in Iowa City back in the day. Solid groove by Stasik with some hintings of The Crunge by Led Zeppelin. Resolution had a soaring jam before dropping into the end of AIT to end the set. Impressive first set for sure.
I made myself a ham sandwich and brought it along. The grassy area under the I-74 bridge was perfect for my setbreak picnic. DBK is always a song I like to see live. Kula is a rarity these days. Ringo included a Muscle Shoals jam. The Triple Wide brought the best dancing platform of the night. Complete with Rhiannon (Fleetwood Mac) teases this was probably my favorite part of the show. Forks and Make It Right were more newer songs that continue to improve. There was a Kabump in between those which was a bit of an energy lull at that late junction. Waiting Room and Mulche's sent the crowd out into the night just before 11 pm. I'm glad I went. This was my 156th time seeing Umphrey's McGee. I was home by 12:15. The drive back included a spectacular lightning show and at times intense rain.
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