Umphrey’s McGee kicked off a new era last night as they celebrated the launch of their label, Nothing Too Fancy Music, with a special show at Brooklyn Bowl. The band took the stage following an introduction from Kevin Browning and manager Vince Iwinski and kicked off the night with “Depth Charge” into “Robot World” which featured the same vocal stew as the 6/8/13 version–a fan-favorite since it was delivered. The Safety in Numbers rarity “Passing” followed before UM dug into leftover Raw Stewage material from the previous night’s UMBowl with “Proverbial,” derived from the 2/25/10 “All in Time” and 7/26/07 “Nemo.”

Throughout the rest of the first set, Umphrey’s gracefully mixed old with new as they delivered one of the newest tunes in the catalog, “Bad Friday,” which featured some of the first true rock improv of the night. Jake Cinninger pulled vocal duty on the band’s second Pink Floyd cover of the weekend, “Fearless,” from the band’s 1971 effort Meddle. Towards the end of the first set, it was time to debut a brand new song to truly usher in the new era, as the group fittingly moved through “Nothing Too Fancy” before debuting “Similar Skin” and closing the set with the end of “Fancy.” The title track from the album combines the lyrics of popular stew “Theresa” and the guitar riff from the 1/20/12 “August” (among others).

The second set featured some of the heaviest improv of the weekend and kicked off with an impressively clean and well-rehearsed backwards “Ringo” before “Wappy Sprayberry” got the crowd moving with multiple sections of rock and funk-tinged improvisation. The band quickly dropped into “Utopian Fir” and wasted no time getting to the percussion/drum-based improv as Jake Cinninger hopped on the percussion kit along with Andy Farag for a drum jam that ultimately led into Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long.” After just four songs, the band closed their set with the fifth, “Wizard Burial Ground,” which included yet another lengthy improv segment making it one of the longest versions in recent memory.

During the encore, the band took some time to thank the crowd and then welcomed drummer Kris Myers to the front of the stage to briefly sing Poison’s “Unskinny Bop” before the punk rock anthem, Danzig’s “Mother.” The evening closed with a lengthy and poignant “Divisions.”

Here’s a look at the setlist as it appears in our Box Scores section:

Umphrey’s McGee
Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY

Set I: Depth Charge > Robot World*, Passing, Proverbial^, Bad Friday, Fearless, Nothing Too Fancy > Similar Skin^^ > Nothing Too Fancy

Set II: Ringo%, Wappy Sprayberry > Utopian Fir%% > All Night Long%%, Wizard Burial Ground

Enc: Unskinny Bop$ > Mother, Divisions

Notes: *“Jimmy Stewart” with lyrics
^debut, original; 02.25.2010 All In Time > 07.26.2007 Nemo
^^debut, original
%“ogniR,” the band played the song in reverse
%%with Jake on percussion
$unfinished

Source: http://allthings.umphreys.com/