I’d stage 5 cling her anyday
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It is pretty absurd to hear anyone say 07 UM is “boring.” I mean they almost didn’t even have any bad songs back then.
The OG peaks that they were crushing when they really started to hit their stride in the improv department in 06-07 just cannot be beat.
I think “robotic” is def a term that applies sometimes nowadays, they can kinda jam on autopilot occasionally by hitting certain beats and movements, ie throw a few drop-outs, do a little segment of key changes, drop out to Jake/BB, etc.
All that said, 2019 is still a top 5 year of UM for me, they really made improv a bigger part of their playing than just about any other year and the setlists were terrific.
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I know I will and often do catch flack for it and I used to love listening to golden era UM but lately it just doesn’t hold up to me. As has been mentioned other times we’ve had this debate, sound quality for sure plays a role in that, but either way it’s just my tastes. Even when they’re at peak creativity and risk taking in those years, it just doesn’t hit me like it used to. Again, just my opinion.
I didn’t get into UM until like 2014(lol) but I find myself not that into the pre 2009 stuff in the archives. I’m sure it’s like trying to get into Dark Souls 1 in 2020 where it just feels dated because of the resources they had and I wasn’t aware while it happened so I have no nostalgia for it. It’s like they’re in a better game engine now.
I mentioned this JaJunk on the setlist thread. Glad to hear that it’s considered top-notch for '19. To be honest, I haven’t listened to much '19 UM at all, so I’ll gladly scope out any of the shows listed in this thread.
3/9 IC is great as well. I really liked that show.
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1/12 Billy is great but I also love the Sociable Jimmy w/ Heard it Through the Grapevine from that show.
Gotta agree with mostly everything Colin is saying (he does suck tho). My first show was at Rothbury 2009, so I missed the 06-08 glory years so the nostalgia is lost on me. I still love listening to those shows and really enjoy the patience they had back then. It’s something they definitely lost in the mid 2010’s. 2019 is a collection of everything I love about this band The patience was there, the improv delivered and was bountiful, their sound as musicians and mixed by Chris is what put 2019 over the top for me. I sadly only saw 2 shows last year. living on the West Coast will do that. Glad to be back in the midwest and ready to catch more shows, hopefully the band keeps going right where they left off.
2010 and 2011 are still my favorite years as a fan. Was 19/20 years old and seeing a shit ton of shows. Best years of my life.
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Was there any good 2020 shows before quarantine? Only ones I saw were Detroit and i thought those were both pretty meh. Although I remember the Kabump and Sociable being decent
I’m jealous you can remember things from those shows.
You didn’t miss much ha
I only saw 4 shows in 2019. 2 good, 1 what people like to call “standard great” (which really means “average at best”) and 1 dumpster fire. I guess a little better batting average than I have had seeing shows after 2011. 2012-2018 I want to say only 1 out of every 4 was good if I was lucky.
Which shows are you referring to? I know 9/1 was the dumpster fire.
I saw a lot of good ones in 2012, and to a lesser extent 2013, but seeing 1/4 good ones from 2014-2018 is legit impressive. Out of the maybe 50-60ish shows I saw during that 5 year stretch, I can only think of aa single one that that I left wanting more, 10/18/18. Definitely never wanted to listen back to any others.
Wow…harsh. I only see 5-7 shows per year but in that stretch I caught probably half a dozen great shows including 1/28/16 improv set w/ Redman, the great RRX run in 2016, Grand Rapids 2015 plus the Canopy show you mentioned. Maybe I was just lucky…
Yea, I definitely was not at any of the quintessential “good ones” from the era. A lot of bad luck was certainly involved.
Agree that the era is not great for the most part. But 9/26/15 is one of the best UM shows I’ve ever seen.
Saw quite a few good ones in '17 and '18 as well. '17-'19 is an incredible stretch for the band imo.
1/31, 2/1, 8/29, 9/1
I know which shows, I mean which ones are which
Yeah I did say if I was lucky and it probably really is 1 for 5. And I’m talking good, not great. So that 1 wasn’t necessarily a home run either.