Crowd favorites Umphrey’s McGee and moe. will return to headline the 2020 edition of Summer Camp, each band playing all three days of the weekend-long festival. Ween, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Billy Strings, Rezz, STS9 and Tipper are among the bands announced to play. Joining them will be The Wood Brothers, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Lettuce, Twiddle, The New Deal, Spafford, Andy Frasco & The U.N, SunSquabi, Keller Williams, Kyle Hollingsworth Band and Dirty Heads.
Three-day Passes, VIP Upgrades, Thursday Pre-Party Passes, and RV campsites sales are on now. Summer Camp will be May 22-24, 2020 (Memorial Day Weekend) at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, IL.
Umphrey’s McGee has released the first batch of tour dates for next year for their ‘Hindsight 20/20’ Tour, including two-night runs in New York City, Detroit and Asheville, which will all have umVIP packages available. The tour will also be making a stop in Pellham, TN at The Caverns, where UM will perform in a gorgeous underground amphitheater.
The Caverns in Pelham, TN
The tour kicks off with a two-night run at Beacon Theatre in New York City on January 17 & 18, and then the band will stick around to play Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn. The tour will then make its way through PA, stopping at Stage AE, and the month of January ends with a two-night run at The Filmore in Detroit, MI. The tour continues into Tennessee, where UM will make a stop at The Carverns on February 13.
Additionally, Umphrey’s will welcome The New Deal for a handful of dates, as well as Billy Strings and Empire Strikes Brass. The Toronto-based live electronic trio returns with new drummer Davide Di Renzo, joining Jamie Shields (keyboards) and Dan Kurtz (bass) to create the third incarnation of the dance party powerhouse, The New Deal. Singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Billy Strings takes the stage in Asheville with his unique take on psychedelic Americana, after Asheville’s own Empire Strikes Brass opens the two-night run with their blend of high energy brass, funk, and rock.
See the full list of Hindsight 20/20 Tour dates below, tickets are on sale now.
Umphrey’s McGee Tour Dates
Jan. 17 – Beacon Theatre – New York, NY Jan. 18 – Beacon Theatre – New York, NY Jan. 19 – Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, NY Jan. 23 – Penn’s Peak – Jim Thorpe, PA* Jan. 24 – Stage AE – Pittsburgh, PA* Jan. 25 – Express Live – Columbus, OH * Jan. 29 – Clyde Theatre – Fort Wayne, IN* Jan. 30 – MGM Northfield Park – Northfield, OH* Jan. 31 – The Fillmore – Detroit, MI* Feb. 1 – The Fillmore – Detroit, MI * Feb. 12 – Soundstage at Graceland – Memphis, TN Feb. 13 – The Caverns – Pelham, TN Feb. 14 – ExploreAsheville.com Arena – Asheville, NC^ Feb. 15 – ExploreAsheville.com Arena – Asheville, NC^
* with The New Deal
^ with Billy Strings and Empire Strikes Brass
Umphrey’s has also just announced Hall of Fame: Class of 2018, a robust collection of the best of the best live tracks performed by the band in 2018 as voted on by the fans. Available in a limited edition, double LP set featuring splattered three-color vinyl, this year’s HOF collection contains four-and-a-half hours of music and enough improv to confuse pop fans everywhere.
There are times when a festival lineup drops and you immediately thinking to yourself, “Damn, I really need to go to that!” The sixth annual Resonance Music and Arts Festival which took place September 19-22 in Slippery Rock, PA is a perfect example.
Presented by Papadosio, in partnership with Mammoth Music Group and Essential Productions, itâs clear that Resonance truly gets its audience.
The festival features a diverse cross-section of music on five stages ranging from jam to jamtronica to electronic with a common thread being that it’s all music everyone in the Resonance community digs, including the arists themselves.
Along with Papadosio itself – who played four sets including a Gorillaz tribute, which was something special to behold – tons of artists played multiple sets on different stages at different times of day and night throughout the weekend, giving them a wide latitude for creativity and exploration and channeling the unique energy of each environment.
To that end, this year’s music schedule was particularly stacked, featuring two headlining sets from Tipper along with multiple performances from each of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Umphrey’s McGee, Twiddle, Black Moth Super Rainbow, TAUK, Goose, Andy Frasco & The U.N., EOTO, SunSquabi, and Dizgo.Â
But the incredibly chill vibe of Resonance is always about more than just the music and a literal change of scenery this year went along way towards making everyone feel welcome. Held for the first time at the bucolic Coopers Lake Campground in Western Pennsylvania, there was a ton to like about this new, smaller and cozier venue and site setup.
Want to car camp? It’s included, for free, for everyone in attendance. Prefer shady wooded spots or a lakeside view? Take your pick. No matter where you setup camp, all of the stages were close by and only a short stroll from each other. No lengthy hikes, arduous hills or tedious security checkpoints to be found anywhere. As an added bonus, Resonance is BYOB-only event and the ability to go back and forth between your campsite and the stages with a beverage of your choice is priceless.
Attendees at Resonance this year were also treated to near-perfect late summer weather, featuring sunny but not scorching daytime sets and hoodie-friendly evening air. Twilight sets each night at all stages were accompanied by spectacular sunsets with surreal hues. Even a brief storm delay Saturday afternoon gave way to a delectable double rainbow.
Not to be outdone by nature, artisitic and technological visuals were equally as impressive at Resonance, with live art installations aplenty and projection mapping illuminating the dragon-adorned castle as well as an intricate web weaved into the ceiling of the barn.
In its sixth year, Resonance has found its groove and an exceptionally fitting new home for its family.
It rained, it scorched, a few artists had to cancel due to travel issues, but that did not stop Summer Camp from being an absolute blast! A festival full of ups and downs but mostly a lot of awesome, jaw-dropping moments of improvisation and collaboration, beauty, artistry, community, and fun.
Summer Camp, what a line up! Many sets of Umphrey’s Mcgee, moe., plus Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Lotus, STS9, Gramatik, Space Jesus, Papadosio, and so so many more! Unfortunately not all major acts performed due to various issues, some weather related – Space Jesus, Govinda, Blackstar, & Rebelution were some of the acts that were unable to perform.
moe. in full bubble mode.
The pre party did not look so promising on Wednesday night. In a nearby arcade bar in Peoria, just twenty minutes outside the festival, the sky was black and the lighting fierce. Tornado warnings broke up the chill vibe of the bar as it interrupted old hits like “Electric Feel” by MGMT.
But alas the rain stopped, as it always does. The sun came out and the patrons lined up at the entrance. God bless the express lane for media and the friendly folk who pointed out that media does not have to wait over an hour in the sun just to have their items inspected.
Umphrey’s McGee at the Sunshine stage. We’ll miss you, Jefferson Waful. (UM lighting designer to retire from touring at end of year).
Jay Blakesburg was directing the video team and filming patrons as they entered. The pre party featured some amazing acts like STS9, EOTO, Keller Williams, & Spafford, plus late night by Umphrey’s & Here Come The Mummies. Now that’s how you kick off a festival!
Spafford played an incredible “All In” as well as “The Reprise” amongst their shred-filled set. Umphrey’s Mcgee played some strong first sets including songs like “Andy’s Last Beer” and “Syncopated Strangers.” STS9’s ‘Axe The Cables’ set was filled with groove including a masterful “Mischief of a Sleepwalker” > “New Dawn New Day” > “Mischief of a Sleepwalker .”
Taz sits in with Pigeons Playing Ping Pong at the Moonshine Stage.
Friday started off with Brandon “Taz” Niederauer. Now this kid can shred. “Fire on the Mountain” > “BlackBird” was phenomenal, heart touching, and ever so appropriate. Keller Williams’ Pettygrass with the Hillbenders was cancelled due to some lighting, a storm was coming that never came. Music is back on! moe., Exmag, Spafford, Karl Denson, Here Come The Mummies, Ghost Light (Tommy Hamilton still has the tape on his guitar from Shpongle Live Red Rocks!) and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong were all happy to oblige.
Since Rebelution was cancelled, moe. & Pigeons Playing Ping Pong put together a set. At first it was moe. with Jeremy Schon, but what happened next was really impressive. While playing the same song (“Cissy Strut” by The Meters), members of moe. on stage switched with the Pigeons guys backstage, switching bands while maintaining the same jam ! Crazy impressive. Other songs played included “Get Back” by The Beatles, “Deal”, and “Sympathy For The Devil” by The Rolling Stones.
Aqueous at the Moonshine Stage.
Umphrey’s McGee performed Anchor Drops in its entirety during their evening set, filled with virtuoso shredding and improvisation.
Some heavy hitting bass music on Friday by Zeds Dead, Tokimonsta, Flux Pavilion was followed by Ryan Stasik’s side project Doom Flamingo at the Campfire Stage who are definitely an act worth seeing.
Mihali sits in with Big Gigantic at the Sunshine Stage.
Saturday looked very promising, especially during the epic Big Gigantic set with an unexpected sit in by Mihali of Twiddle. But alas, during Umphrey’s set, the rain came in and washed it all away, along with several sets including those of Space Jesus & Manic Focus.
Saturday also featured amazing performances by Chromeo Live, Cory Wong of Vulfpeck, Blues Traveler with a sit in Mihali of Twiddle and a separate one from Al Schnier of moe. , Andy Frasco with a sit in from Gumby himself! (by sit in what is meant is that Andy invited someone in a Gumby suit from the crowd to dance on stage as he shoved mushrooms in the costume’s mouth and finished Gumby off with his band members with an implied circle jerk).
Cory Wong at the Moonshine Stage.
So spirits were a little low Saturday night in the rain. Some major acts had gotten cancelled and the rain was not letting up. But indoor stages were still on! lespecial saved the day. Space Jesus did not get to play but he was rocking out to lespecial for the entirety of the set front row. With a little support from ‘his uncle,’ Luke Bemand and the lespecial boys crushed the late night Saturday set including the lespecial heavy hitter “Fruit Wolf Dance.” All those folks who may have been somewhere else were now packed and raging lespecial. Their tight, hard rock, danceable groove was perfect for this night. What better Primus song to play after a torrential rain storm… My name is mud!
lespecial at The Soulshine Tent.
Sunday funday. Never miss a Sunday show right? Chris Robinson Brotherhood was in the house, Oteil & Friends, Eric Krasno, Papadosio, The Werks, Ben Harper… the jam was strong with this day.
Aqueous put on a particularly solid set to kick off the day featuring a live debut of “APunk” by Vampire Weekend. Umphrey’s, bringing the heat after having one of their Saturday night sets rained out, included “Whitehouse Road” by Tyler Childers with a special sit in from Arlo McKinley and Allie Kral from Yonder Mountain String Band. Umphrey’s McGee closed up their set with “Outshined” by Soundgarden.
Neal Casal, Weedie Braimah, and Oteil Burbridge of Oteil & Friends at The Moonshine Stage.
Oteil & Krasno in the VIP Lounge was beautiful, featuring masterful renditions of Dead songs such as “Help On The Way.” Oteil & Friends featured Jeff Chimenti, Krasno, Neal Casal, Weedie Braimah, John Kimock, and Alfreda Gerald. Now that was a set filled with such tight, progressive jams. It really flowed, had a direction, and was sonically impressive.
Chris Robinson Brotherhood put on an incredible set with songs like “Rare Birds” and “Venus In Chrome” was played with precision and whole lot of energy.
Chris Robinson Brotherhood at the Sunshine Stage.
moe. busted out some live debut covers including “Rebell Yell” & “Turning Japanese.” This set featured masterful, psychedelic stage lighting complete with UV reacting bubbles!
“Loving Cup” by The Rolling Stones was played at least twice that day by different bands, so that should tell you what kind of Sunday it was. A fun one. It was a Sunday Funday! Ben Harper & The Innocent Nocturnals proved to be intimate, full of masterful blues, and virtuoso musicianship including a Buddy Miles cover, “Them Changes.”
Ben Harper & The Innocent Nocturnals at the Sunshine Stage.
Lotus played a particularly awesome set, including a particularly groovey “Eats The light.” It flowed very well and people danced from the very first note until the end of the encore. Lotus is a nice happy medium between jam and electronica, where they can satisfy musical preferences of different tastes with the same song. Someone who loves to hear someone play guitar can appreciate their guitar playing, but someone who just wants to dance to a catchy beat can also do so at Lotus.
Summer Camp had some heavy hitting bass music to close out the festival featuring Gramatik, Squnto, & Borgore. Borgore dropped old classic dance songs that everyone knew like “Sandstorm.”
Mike Rempel of Lotus at the Sunshine Stage.
Overall, Summer Camp was a success! Thousands of strangers gathered to celebrate freedom, music, and art. Summer Camp is a magical place full of amazing people, incredible music, inspiring art, and a thriving community that is held together by the love of music.
After a raging three night run at Brooklyn Steel Umphrey’s McGee bassist Ryan Stasik brought his new band Doom Flamingo to The Brooklyn Bowl for a late night dance party. Fronted by the dynamic and tantalizing Kanika Moore, her soulful vocals accompanied by rolling bass line, broad horns, and an eerie darksynth soundscape set the night into hyper drive. Doom spent the night weaving through original material and covers including ZZ Tops Legs, the 80’s classic Maniac, and Nine Inch Nails Closer. Support this awesome new band and be on the look out for new singles as they are released.
Setlist: Moonroller, Hot Wheels, F-16, Love On Hold, Replicant (new song debut), Telepathy>jam>Domingo’s Drive, Across The Room, Legs, Maniac, Runaway.
Umphrey’s McGee played the second night of a three night run at Brooklyn Steel Friday February, 15. The Jam Veterans moved in an out of their eclectic catalog with crowd favorite “Red Tape” and “Wife Soup.” A highlight from the show was an amazing cover of the Little Feat classic, “Fat Man in The Bathtub” with a guest hot section of Mike Maher (Snarky Puppy), Chris Ott & Dan White (Huntertones). Fans are looking forward to see what Umphrey’s brings for their final night of this Brooklyn Steel Run.
Albany was certainly the place to be Friday, February 1. The Palace Theater hosted Umphrey’s McGee for another always-astounding performance, and the Pearl Street Pub threw a legendary after-show. Once the UM show concluded at The Palace, drummer Kris Myers and bassist Ryan Stasik made their way down the block to meet up with Aqueous guitarist Mike Gantzer. The three collaborated on an energetic, punk-rock tribute to Green Day‘s 1994 album Dookie that took the Pearl Street Pub’s crowd on a high-speed cruise down memory lane.
The trio took the stage with attendees anxious to take it all in. Set one blasted off with “Burnout,” “Having a Blast” and “Chump.” Stasik then dropped into the signature bass line of “Longview,” bringing about a crowd sing-a-long. One highlight of the night was a set of three Ween covers. In between Green Day hits “Longview” and “Welcome to Paradise,” the guys played Ween’s “The Grobe,” “It’s Gonna Be a Long Night,” and “Transdermal Celebration.” The set continued with Dookie tracks in sequential order, mixing in genre-relevant covers from Nirvana, The Ramones and Weezer. Craftily weaving in a tease that was also featured at the UM show earlier, “Norwegian Wood” (The Beatles) was heard throughout “In The End.” The end of the evening featured an epic trio of songs including “Brain Stew,” “Geek Stink Breath,” the first single from Green Day’s album Insomniac, and “Bad Mouth,” a Fugazi cover.
This date marked the 25th Anniversary of the release of Dookie, making the performance a celebratory collaboration. Mike Gantzer, Kris Myers and Ryan Stasik have performed full covers of the Green Day album on two other occasions: once as a late night tribute set at Summer Camp Music Festival 5/26/17 and again at Brooklyn Comes alive on 9/24/17.
(Unofficial Setlist)
Burnout, Having a Blast, Chump > Longview, The Grobe (1), It’s Gonna Be a Long Night (1), Transdermal Celebration (1), Welcome to Paradise, Pulling Teeth > Basket Case, She, Drain You (2), Sassafras Roots, When I Come Around, Coming Clean, I Wanna Be Sedated (3) > Blietzkreig Bop (3), Emenius Sleepus, In The End (4) > F. O. D. > All By Myself, My Name Is Jonas (5), Say It Ain’t So (5), Undone – The Sweater Song (5), Brain Stew
Encore: Geek Stink Breath, Bad Mouth (6)
1- Ween cover
2- Nirvana cover
3- The Ramones cover
4- Norwegian Wood (The Beatles) tease
5- Weezer cover
6- Fugazi Cover
In the midst of a polar vortex, fans of Umphrey’s McGee fought through the frigid cold to see the band take to the historic Palace Theatre stage in Albany. This is the group’s fourth performance at the Palace over the past five years, seemingly solidifying it as a staple tour stop in the northeast. Opening up the night, they had Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, featuring John Kimock and Scott Metzger.
photo by Dave Decrescente
The first set kicked off with the heavy rocker “Domino Theory,” off 2011’s Death by Stereo, setting the mood for the night with its driving metal sound. Following a type 1 jam, the group played “Got Your Milk (Right Here),” another rocking tune that hadn’t been played since the group’s Red Rocks run. Robert Walter joined the group for “Whistle Kids” from Umphrey’s recent 2018 release it’s not us. Walter took over keyboardist Joel Cummins’ Fender Rhodes for the song and led the group through the ensuing jam with Cummins by his side on the Hammond organ, raising the somewhat downtempo feel of the song into a short, but sweet prog jam. “The Linear” followed, continuing that progginess and going into the first real jam of the set, heavily featuring guitarists Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger working with each other to create atmosphere and bring the song into “White Man’s Moccasins,” a jazzy tune that let Cinninger show off his chops a bit.
photo by Dave Decrescente
“Resolution” came next, raising the tempo immensely with its uplifting sound, and leading the group into a full band tease of The Beatles’ classic “Norwegian Wood.” The jam in “Resolution” was very spacey and electronic, creating a similar feel to what they did with “The Linear” earlier in the set but adding in the electronic drum kit from drummer Kris Meyers. Myers and percussionist Andy Farag took a mini drum jam before the group brought “Resolution” into “Upward,” a bluesy ballad by Bayliss that took the energy from “Resolution” and transformed it into the peak of the segment. To close out the set, Bayliss welcomed moe. drummer Vinnie Amico to the stage for a cover of ZZ Top’s “Cheap Sunglasses,” a classic by the Texas hard rock trio.
photo by Dave Decrescente
The second set was the highlight of the night, starting off with the prog metal masterpiece “Miss Tinkle’s Overture,” which really shows how all 6 members are a well oiled machine when they need to get down and technical. “Miss Tinkle’s” led the group into a dub reggae-esque jam once they had played through the composed sections before Cinninger brought the jam back into a metal sound for the “peak” of the jam. “Walletsworth” followed, continuing the heavy sound from “Miss Tinkle’s,” but not featuring any real jam besides Cummins taking a piano solo before the last chorus. “Waiting Room” kept the heaviness going, with its driving bassline and anthemic lyrics really getting the crowd raging for its brief performance.
photo by Dave Decrescente
To kick off the best segment of the set, the band started into the familiar opening chords of “1348,” which is always a welcome sound at an Umphrey’s show. The jam in “1348” was really interesting, the group mixed a dance sound with funky guitar riffing and really kept the groove driving until they suddenly broke into “Eat,” which was just heavy guitar riffage front to back. “Maybe Someday” came next, riding the wave of heaviness from “1348” > “Eat” and launching into a heavy metal jam that wove in and out of the composed sections of the song. Ending out the set was “The Floor” back into “1348,” completing the song from earlier in the set. “The Floor” is an incredible song to see live, it’s very dramatic and Middle Eastern-sounding at points, but also brings forth some of the group’s heaviest breakdowns.
This version of the song didn’t feature any jamming, but was a super tight version of the song and provided the perfect launchpad for dropping back into “1348.” The second half of “1348” was a culmination of all the energy they’d been building up throughout the second set, exploding into one last super heavy runaround of the main riff before ending the set. For the encore, the group sandwiched “Soul Food I” between two halves of “Puppet String.” The group seamlessly dropped out of the composed section of “Puppet String” into “Soul Food I,” performed the song, and then bassist Ryan Stasik dropped back into the “Puppet String” bassline and the rest of the band followed suit.
Umphrey’s McGee performed a heater of a show on Friday night in Albany, check out the photo gallery below for a taste of what the night looked like. Check back with NYS Music for coverage of the Dookie aftershow.
