Umphrey's McGee at Fox Theatre, September 3, 2022

Another Planet Entertainment presents Umphrey's McGee; the Main Squeeze opens
Fox Theatre
1807 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94612-2109 USA
7:00 PM, Saturday, September 3, 2022

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[7:00 PM] {lights down, performers out}

1. [7:00 PM] ? “Singing the same old song”
2. [7:06 PM] Dr. Funk »
3. [7:11 PM] #WWC
4. [7:17 PM] War Pigs
   [7:28 PM] {Band introduction; short yack}
5. [7:29 PM] I’ll Take Another
   [7:43 PM] {set ends}

• Corey Frye: lead vox, keyboards;
• Reuben Gingrich: drums;
• Maximilian Newman: guitar, harmony vox;
• Ben “Smiley” Silverstein: keyboards, Alesis keytar;
• Rob Walker: bass, keyboards, harmony vox.

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[8:09 PM] {lights dimmed, set up done}
[8:16 PM] performers out}

1. [8:16 PM] Mantis » (JO) » [8:31 PM] Mantis
   [8:37 PM] {greetings from Bayliss}
2. [8:38 PM] Fenced In
3. [8:42 PM] Bridgeless » (JO) »
4. [8:55 PM] Half Delayed »
5. [9:00 PM] Night Nurse »
6. [9:11 PM] Plunger » (JO) »
7. [9:24 PM] Bridgeless reprise
   [9:29 PM] {set ends}

[10:00 PM] {lights down, performers out}

1. [10:01 PM] Hurt Bird Bath » [10:11 PM] It's About That Time (Miles Davis) » [10:13 PM] Hurt Bird Bath reprise
   [10:15 PM] {Bayliss: how ya doing this evening? That good eh?}
2. [10:16 PM] Escape Goat
   [10:28 PM] {full stop}
3. [10:29 PM] Divisions » [10:31 PM] Under African Skies groove » [10:33 PM] drums » [10:35 PM] jam » [10:43 PM] Divisions
   [10:47 PM] {Ryan: do you guys like parties?}
4. [10:48 PM] Wappy Sprayberry » Crucial Taunt
   [11:05 PM] {short pause}
5. [11:05 PM] Den
   [11:14 PM] {set ends}
   
   Encore
6. [11:15 PM] Booth Love
   [11:30 PM] {show ends}

Umphrey's McGee

• Brendan Bayliss: guitar, lead vox;
• Jake Cinninger: guitar, harmony vox;
• Joel Cummins: piano, keyboards, harmony vox;
• Andy Farag: percussion;
• Kris Myers: drums, harmony vox;
• Ryan Stasik: bass.

BART delivers us downtown a few minutes after 6 PM, and we arrive at the Fox surprised to see the entrance line has already been admitted. Not many people out early tonight! A quick pause for security and then we hustle inside to claim a spot on the first tier rail, next to friends hanging out near dead center. Perfect!

Now it's time to hang out and chit chat!

The house was still quite empty when the Main Squeeze started their set: maybe 15% full? But folks trickled in as the set wore in, and now that it's break, I'd say we have a respectable turnout: half full? Not embarrassing anyways!

The Main Squeeze was pretty good. They showed a good mix of influences with their songs, and the last two were majorly jammy: could be why Umphrey's picked them to open, eh? If I remember, I'll look them up on Spotify later.

7:57 PM and Umphrey's roadies are making noise onstage, getting all the gear ready. Be patient grasshopper…

Umphreys blazes through their first set. Lots of really interesting jams in a wide variety of moods, from techno disco to wispy jazz to proggy metal and all sorts of other places. I wasn't 100% psyched for some of those journeys, but they were really good about not camping out in any one mode for too long. And if the music or the beat didn't grab my interest, the light show was waiting to beam me up.

Having a break to sit and chill was really helpful. It seemed to me as if a sizable number of folks left before the final set began… I'm gonna say the place was only 40% full tops: lots of dancing room in the pit and behind us on the first tier: presumably the same or even more empty elsewhere.

I was really jazzed when they dropped into Miles Davis' It's About That Time , even if they only jammed on the theme for a few minutes. Nice touch! And when they started noodling the groove to Paul Simon's Under African Skies midway through the set, I was really hoping they'd do the full cover (I'm pretty sure that Bayliss has done it), but alas, it was just a tease, or perhaps an entry point for the segue into the drum break that followed.

Set Two ends 11:14 PM. The BART app says our train arrives in four minutes, then 34 minutes for the next one after that. We dicker for 30 sec, then decide to bail on the encore and run for the station. The train pulls in as we pass the fare gates, opening the doors as we hustle down the stairway. All aboard! Heading East! Whew! Made it!!

Nice to be home before midnight. Good to open up windows and try to turnover the air before we close back up and hit the sack.

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2022 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2022 event list! ☸ On to the next event!