Happy UMBowl Week! All week long, until the band hits the stage on Friday at the newly opened Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas for the start of UMBowl VI, we’re going to be taking a look back at each event. To start, let’s turn back the clocks to 2010 when the band first gave birth to the UMBowl idea at Lincoln Hall in Chicago. Here are a series of videos from that evening which saw the group play an acoustic set as well as a Stew Art, All Request and Choose Your Own Adventure quarters.

“UMBowl Intro”

The video component to UMBowl has taken on a life of its own, from the Almost Famous parody to the Forest Gump antics, When Harry Met Sally and many others. This year in Vegas, it looks like Swingers will get its time in the desert sun. But it all started here, with a football-themed video to pump everyone up.

“The Weight Around”

It’s a shame the acoustic set never returned (although I guess you can say it was replaced by Raw Stewage) because this set holds up as one of the more entertaining of the evening. The crown jewel of it all, really, is the debut of “The Weight Around,” a song lovingly referred to as the “buzzkill.” This beautiful rendition of the Safety in Numbers cut was preceded by an opening “Front Porch” as well as Zeppelin’s “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” and others. There is as much jamming in this opening quarter as there was in any others, making it a strong acoustic effort.

“Interstate Love Song”

Although this Stone Temple Pilots cover has popped up a couple of times since, some may forget that this was a mega bustout that night. “Interstate Love Song” hadn’t been played in 1,063 shows, with the last coming on April 25, 2002. One of the beauties of UMBowl is its ability to revive forgotten originals or covers. In this case, the latter, has been played just twice since, but I suspect it won’t disappear for eight years ever again.

Stew Art Event

At the heart of UMBowl is the Stew Art Series, something the band had been doing off and on at various stops on their tour in the time before UMBowl. Essentially an “anything goes” quarter where the audience texts in different themes and covers for the band to emulate. The randomness of it all makes this one of the most impressive musical exercises you’ll ever see, as the group has mere seconds to get on the same page. And give the audience credit too, as they need to pull their weight for this to be successful as well. Teamwork!

“Dub Wife Soup”

The All Request Quarter has become a breeding ground for rarities as well as alternate versions of songs, and the first year may have been the most daring as the band delivered a dub take on “Wife Soup” and a funked out “Der Bluten Kat.” This set also saw the debut of “Red Room Disco.”

Techno Jam

When the band is in the audience’s hands, good things tend to happen. Here, out of “Africa,” the band dives off the deep end into an exploratory techno jam. The choices for this path were segues into “Hangover” or “The Linear” or a techno jam. Safe to say, the choice was obvious.

“Land of Wappy”

After four quarters, what’s a little overtime? The second “Land of Wappy” ever was a devastating way to close out the first UMBowl. It’s the equivalent of scoring the game winning touchdown on the first play of overtime.