Umphrey's McGee - 01.29.11 - Electric Factory

A touring band can be defined as one that makes a living on the road by performing in a new city every night. Some bands can make a career out of it. Although life as a touring band sounds like a blast, I'm sure it doesn't come easy. I can burn myself out by attending three shows on consecutive nights. Umphrey's McGee has been through the rigor and is the epitome of a touring band. Their resume speaks for itself: Over 100 shows performed each year since 2001. They have it down to a science. Tonight will mark an end of an era for UM when longtime soundman Kevin Browning will hang up his touring shoes after UM's surprise performance at Brooklyn Bowl.

KB has been with the band since I first saw them in 2004. He's always been able to transform shitty sounding venue into something much more. Give him a room like the Best Buy Theatre in Times Square and you're in for a treat. UM returned to the not-so illustrious Electric Factory for his final show behind the board in Philadelphia. It was only fitting we setup to tape FOB in the best sounding spot. It's impossible to hide the rattling air ducts, but it's the best you can do for the factory.

I really liked this first set a lot. It had a great flow and some really smooth jamming: Booth Love was absolutely filthy, Turn and Dub kept the funk flowing, the second live performance of Deeper wedged between Pig, and JaJunk bookends were a good touch. The second set definitely had it's moments too, but I think the best portions were during the opening Mulche's Odyssey and the Hurt Bird Bath encore.

I can honestly say KB is one FOH engineer that has been able to get the best sound out the Electric Factory over the years. Although he'll be missed, his work with UM is far from over. Kevin has decided to continue mixing the band’s music for live releases from the comfort of home. Thanks KB for the years of great work! Your mix will be missed. Here's one last recording for the road from the sweet spot:




Umphrey's McGee
January 29, 2011
Electric Factory
Philadelphia, PA

Source: Schoeps mk41 > actives > NBox+ > Sound Devices 722(24/48)
Transfer: Sound Devices 722 > Firewire > Wavelab 5.0a(+Gain/Fades/Resampler 192/UV22HR Dither) > CD Wave > flac16 (level 8) > tagged using Foobar2000 and Tag&Rename
Location: FOB/DFC
Configuration: DINa
Taped and Transferred by T.J. Samulis

SET I
01. -intro-
02. JaJunk >
03. Booth Love >
04. The Fussy Dutchman
05. Turn & Dub
06. Example 1
07. Push The Pig >
08. Deeper >
09. Push The Pig >
10. JaJunk

SET II
01. Mulche's Odyssey
02. The Bottom Half >
03. Jimmy Stewart (1) >
04. The Bottom Half
05. Bombtrack (2)
06. Cemetery Walk II
07. Sociable Jimmy
08. Andy's Last Beer
09. The National Anthem (3)
10. -encore break-
11. Hurt Bird Bath (4)

NOTES
(1) With lyrics
(2) Rage Against the Machine cover/with Ilya Stemkovsky on vocals
(3) Radiohead cover
(4) With Imperial March Jam (Star Wars)

Download from the Live Music Archive

Thanks to Jon McLennand and UM for the ticket! Enjoy!