Thought of a little debate to have amongst ourselves. The title is a question of where is UM most comfortable playing, outside of South Bend and Chicago. Where do you think that the band plays some of their better shows? What venues do they seem to put forth more effort? Canopy Club, Orange Peel, The Hive come to mind for me. Avondale seems like it gets some heaters too.
Calvin Theater
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Northern Lights
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Def Clifton Park.
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Woulda said higher ground but that last show was a travesty
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Des Moines?
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Every show I’ve seen in Upstate New York (Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Albany) has been really good. There is something in the air up there. My favorite place to see them though is probably California. The vibe is loose and mellow on the West Coast. I’ve definitely caught some great shows in Asheville as well. But if you put a gun to my head, it is definitely Upstate New York. I had this theory that the quality of improv correlates with the gravitational force in that specific region and the sweet spot is Upstate New York.
I mean if you were to look at the best Umphrey’s shows of all time, Bonnaroo 2004, 10KLF 2007, Northern Lights 2008, Asheville 2010, Boston 2011, Northern Lights 2011, Charleston 2015, etc. come to mind (sorry if I don’t know my 2019 well enough to throw one in there…maybe Anaheim 2019…I feel like 2017-2022 is still to fresh in our ears to really come to a conclusion on which shows we will reference from this era ten years down the line) and only one of these locations featured two GOATs and that is Albany, New York.
Just my two cents…
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BB definitely loves the Cap
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Wilma
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First Ave and The Pageant have had some good consistency with their shows too. When it comes to region, I feel like NE and SE is strongest. Dunno why, Texas shows don’t do much for me.
Anything in upstate New York, Iowa, Canopy Club, STL, Atlanta, Denver (because all things crunch), Milwaukee/Madison.
Edit: honorable mention to the state of Montana.
Since i started listening to the band in 2004, and seeing in 2005, these locations have consistently gotten good shows, bustouts, etc.
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Bias implied, I think GR could be included in this as well
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Madison/Milwaukee used get pretty consistent heaters but that has fallen off hard in the last few years.
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The 2019 Milwaukee run was pretty fire.
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Halloween 2015 was decent for 2014-2015 standards.
I had a great time at those show #2000 WI shows….
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NE winter tours
no bias what so ever.
I’d like to catch more shows in the south though. Have had so much fun in Asheville and Nashville
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#2000 was great. Sure there weren’t many jams but the song selection was top notch.
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Always fun seeing them in Madison. Wish they would do multiple nights again.
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad UM show in Peoria, IL