To me, the last great UM jam was the 2020 Pelham Fir. That Fir blew my mind
Was it undersold this year? Seemed pretty full but I’ve never been there before
The Bridgeless and Mantis from RRX this year are both outstanding. I’d put New Haven Crooked1 up there too. The band was also playing very well for the ATL, Chicago, New Haven, Pontiac and Apple Valley runs. But they have been in a huge funk lately in the improv department.
2020 was not starting great at all, the last handful of shows before the pandemic were pretty bad.
No question there popularity was declining a bit before the pandemic. And the competition in the jam and crowd has grown a lot over the past 5 years with Goose and Spafford and PPP.
1 Like
I’m with you on the Bridgeless and Mantis. But as far as entire shows being quality, that’s been lacking. The vibe just isn’t quite there. Hopefully it’s just a funk. Because when UM is on their game, no other jam band can touch them.
1 Like
Yeah I completely agree. People always said that UM needed a hiatus and I never understood it. Well, now they’ve had one and the results aren’t exactly inspired.
2 Likes
Yeah that IS pretty weird
COVID is not a hiatus. It’s not like they could unwind and go sightseeing. The past 18-24 months have been awful for just about everyone. A hiatus is optional, none of this shit had been optional. They’ve had to play some really crappy hands that they have been dealt. A relaxing hiatus was not one of them.
19 Likes
Unrelated to that. They’re absolutely less popular now
7 Likes
Exactly, 18+ months on income insecurity including an extended period of isolation. Hopefully the new material they are set to release provides some new inspiration for improv next year.
2 Likes
and with new babies in some cases 
1 Like
I loved those palace theater runs. Great venue much preferred over first ave. I will say though we decided to stand in the walk way area that was elevated near the bar area halfway down towards the floor and that was the most comfortable I’ve been at that venue. We were getting blasted by the AC you almost needed a jacket it was nice.
2 Likes
the band, and please allow me to be frank, stinks
2 Likes
Something about them smells?
3 Likes
Yeah, sultan.
8 Likes
Something about stasik’s mustache and an old Camaro…
This was a pretty insightful read this morning, thanks for the thoughts generally.
#loveyou
2 Likes
Pandemic and all phish came out swinging. Coming from a moderate phish fan since 2021
This is my buddy who was asking why there was so much hate on KB. Even the less jaded fans are feeling it.
5 Likes
Phish hadn’t had a hiatus in a while, and they have been successful enough that when the pandemic hit they knew they could catch their breath for a bit. They had the very well-received “Dinner and a Movie” streams, early-released a pretty solid album they had been working on pre-COVID, and Trey wrote an album’s worth of solo stuff and did the Beacon jams but other than that they laid low. Umphrey’s hasn’t had a hiatus basically ever and in the pandemic it seemed like they were trying to force a lot of things and throw shit at the wall just to make enough money to get by. 2019 really wasn’t that long ago so I know they can get back there if they have some time to focus on the music. Until then I will get by listening to the every-once-in-a-while noteworthy jam but mostly catch up on some older years that I haven’t spent a lot of time with yet.
2 Likes