Photo via screenshot.

On Sunday, Jan. 21, Umphrey’s McGee played its final winter engagement in New York at Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, N.Y. This show marked a very special anniversary for the band, which celebrated 26 years since its first live performance in 1998 at Bridget McGuire’s Filling Station in South Bend, Ind. The group honored this momentous occasion by enlisting the help of special guest Kanika Moore to debut Tina Turner’s anthemic ballad “The Best.”

The band began its first set with the soaring epic “Nipple Trix,” segued into “Phil’s Farm,” which was originally recorded for its Jimmy Stewart 2007 live album. Next, the group performed “Example 1,” “Little Gift” and a dreamy ascent to “Upward,” the closing track on 2018’s it’s you. Umphrey’s concluded the first set with “Hiccup,” from its 2022 album Asking for a Friend, combined with “Kimble” and “I Don’t Know What I Want,” another song from the band’s most recent offering.

Umphrey’s exploded into its second set with the funkified, jam-forward live classic “Wappy Sprayberry,” joined to the 2019 single “Crucial Taunt.” Next came recent cuts “Fenced in” and “Small Strides,” followed by fan-favorite “August.” As the performance neared its conclusion, the band invited Moore–vocalist for electro-pop quartet Doom Flamingo with Umphrey’s bassist Ryan Stasik–to the stage for a bracing, propulsive rendition of Turner’s power-pop classic “The Best.” In its distinctive style, the group wrapped up the second set with an impressive total segue between “Hangover” and “Kula.” Finally, the band punctuated its weekend residency with an encore of “The Triple Wide,” its fifth most performed song, ornamented with teases of John Williams’ “A New Hope” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

View Umphrey’s McGee’s debut of “The Best” in the fan-recorded video below. Brendan Bayliss will perform next on Friday, Jan. 26, at The Chop Shop in Chicago, accompanying the live electronic stylings of Michael Travis and Aaron Johnston’s Snakes and Stars. The band reunites on Jan. 31 for a booking at Cleveland’s House of Blues. Visit umphreys.com/tour for more information about the band’s upcoming dates.

Umphrey’s McGee
Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, N.Y.
Jan. 21, 2024

Set 1: Nipple Trix > Phil’s Farm, Example 1 > Little Gift > Upward, Hiccup > Kimble > I Don’t Know What I Want
Set 2: Wappy Sprayberry > Crucial Taunt, Fenced In, Small Strides, August, The Best+, Hangover-> Kula
Encore: The Triple Wide*

Notes:
+ debut of Tina Turner’s “The Best,” with Kanika Moore on vocals
* with John Williams’ “A New Hope” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” teases.