I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a holidaze or jamcruise set before
I’m actually not. It made me happy.
Regarding the show, only listened to fir so far. I thought creep was awful but MITA is always a treat. I thought the jam was great too.
Historically not to bort standards but seeing them on a beach is just fun even if not playing that well. My original comment was just hopeful because they are actually playing some leading into holidaze instead of having an entire month off like normal years leading into the holiday season.
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The problem with UM is even during the good shows, nothing is really worth revisiting. I lovwd 11/12/21. I had a blast and i thought the show was legit good, but no jam really jumped out at me. The jams have moments, but never have the chance to turn memorable. The statement will only reign true for people who like all the bands, so dont bother getting upset if you dont. I have seen maybe the two best UM shows of the year with ATL1 and STL2. Neither one of those shows produced a jam that would be in the top 20 for jams i have seen this year. Even the bad Phish shows I saw this year usually had atleast somethijg worth going back to. I think Biscuits have had a bad year, but the highs from the good shows have been significantly higher than the highs from the good UM shows.
UM has always suffered from playing it safe and keeping the risks to a minnimum, but at the same time you still knew you had a chance at a real heater here or there. Now days that just does not even seem in the realm of possible outcomes. So even the great UM shows now are just ok.
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A bunch of aborted 3min jams is exactly what pisses me off about 2021 UM but that 2nd set segment looks great.
Neutered ITK makes me so sad.
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The Bort would still bitch if they only played 4 jams a show, even if two of the jams were 10+ min and revisit worthy. Definitely a catch 22 but give me the show with the HOF worthy jams over the micro jammed show
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That was 2011, and for the most part people were all pretty happy around here that year
Better than most annual festy sets, that’s for sure.
Pretty sure people ripped on the formula in the moment, but the aftermath worked out great years later
Theyll be back to it
I loved it, but you could be right. That was a decade ago so memory could be fuzzy. The bort was at the very least all very engaged in the highs at the time.
The jams were just so good that it clouded the actual shows themselves. But obviously some of the 2011 shows were still GOAT as a whole as well.
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I hope so. I legit think things like STL1 is as good as they get these days. Their musical interests and focus have clearly changed, and that is fine. Even if its boring.
How were the fuxing afterparties?
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Haven’t listened to anything other than a minute into Rocker 2 jam. I’m happy! It’s BY FAR my fav UM set/show opener and not tLS 
. Finally!
I completely agree with the “even during the good shows, nothing is worth revisiting” sentiment. As someone who doesn’t listen to a lot of jam bands outside UM (but Goose are trying their best to hook me), I think what drew me to them initially is their ability to create jams that felt more like songs within a song rather than just noodling on a theme for a few minutes and getting back to it. These days, it feels like they do that less and less. I miss the open-ended stews. Even songs like this Utopian which should theoretically be getting very open-ended stews, they nixed it before it could really go anywhere. Which is a shame - that Joel keyboard line that he drops at the beginning definitely had song potential. But they had this crowd in the palm of their hand after Creep and probably just figured they didn’t have to do that, and they’re right.
I never have a bad time at a show and they’re still skilled enough that they’lll do something that completely wows me at least once at every show, but the killer instinct just isn’t there anymore. Like others have said, interests are changing. For now I’ll just try to enjoy what’s there. Thankfully 75% of their compositions are actually really strong songs (another reason I prefer them over most other jam bands), which also basically guarantees most shows will be good by itself.
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Listening Guide:
For more information on this guide, or to make your own check out this topic: Umphreys Live Listening Guide - A Community Project
- There’s ITK tracked in Bottom Half
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