By no means a knock on Chicago just a testament to how good the last two weeks were. I would take these two hour sets anyday if it meant the playing would be that consistent.
And if I were to throw the Caverns, St. Louis, and Virginia Beach into the mix, I would still put both nights of Asheville ahead and maybe Indy on par with St. Louis. Last night didn’t do too much for me outside of hearing Seasons which I wanted to hear on Couch Tour but I would put it as the weakest of the nine.
Good playing for sure the last stretch of summer tour. Bummed we only get three more soundboards before the New Years run. I’m going to have to listen to another year of Umphrey’s to hold me over until then. Thinking I might comb through 2019 a little deeper than I have.
I said it was “good”. Admittedly I haven’t listened to all the shows but was definitely less excited about the song selection for Indianapolis.
All in all, I like that they are mixing in a fair amount of their earlier material and producing some good improv along the way. Very nice run of shows compared to the first part of 2024 when Kris was just getting back after surgery.
Listening back to last year, and the only thing that UM really did wrong was Kris getting hurt. Now, the fill in drummers did their best, but you’re right, the first leg of the year was awkward. Said it before, but after that Aspen/WC run where Stasik showed up late and Jake was visually unhappy, they got their shit together and had a great spring/summer.
What? Also, did we ever find out why Jake kept missing shows early 2022? He wasn’t at the cincy show that year and I always wondered what happened. Obviously none of business really, curiosity tho
May be attendance bias but I think Chicago had just about the best jam of the entire run that I’ve heard in the 8/23 Staircase. That jam went places and had an incredible ending.
Throw in a great AIT, Small Strides, and Message in a bottle and it was a really quality show.
I’m going to have to relisten to this Staircase a few times because I’ve spun Asheville’s at least six times already and besides the Phil’s might be my favorite jam of the last two weeks.
Fun wise, AvL Fir dance party was my favorite jam. Dump City and IC from Baltimore were very nice. Staircase delivered twice, but that whole OoF/Phil’s segment was all timer material IMO. Something about that transition into Phil’s sealed the deal for me.
Apologies, should’ve worded it better: “hearing that Jake was visibly pissed at Stasik makes me worry that there’s tension in the band. Could that have been why he was missing a few dates back then?”
Now I realize that’s all stupid and he was just dealing with some life stuff. No disrespect or anything
I really feel like they hit their stride on the last east coast run in February starting with 2/14 9:30 club shows. January was rough but that five night run (ending in penns peak outstanding show) kicked off their consistently high quality playing. Aspen shows low key are fantastic and they just kept it rolling after that.
Loved the shows I’ve seen this year and finally feel like they’re back at 2019 / first half of 2023 level of consistently delivering good shows on a nightly basis.
I took a bit of an UM hiatus and now my head is more in the Biscuits but i miss you and Lana and i wanna chill with the kids!! When 2025 info gets announced we should find an opportunity to see a show together or at least have a family visit before/after some run
