Umphrey’s McGee continued their Hindsight 2020 winter tour at Stage AE in Pittsburgh on Friday night. The band offered up a live debut of “Red Room” and also resumed their tribute to Rush drummer Neil Peart.
UM dropped a “Depth Charge” bust out, last played on April Fool’s Day 2017, to kick off the concert before heading into “Mad Love.” After “Rocker 2,” the band unveiled “Red Room” live for the first time. The song appears on the band’s 2007 album The Bottom Half along with “Red Room Disco,” which Umphrey’s has played just once before at UMBowl 2010.
Guitarist Brendan Bayliss introduced “Red Room” by wishing crew member Sam Sutton a happy birthday and gifting the song to him, which saw Jake Cinninger on acoustic guitar. After the tune, Pittsburgh native and UM bassist Ryan Stasik noted the live debut even though the song was over a decade old and also took the time to get a birthday cheer for his mom from the audience. The bust-outs kept rolling with “Liberty Echo” for the first time since October 11, 2018 — a gap of 115 shows. The Pittsburgh “Liberty Echo” also marked just the 17th time the band had played it overall since its debut at UMBowl III in 2012.
Umph then headed into “Blue Echo” ahead of “Divisions” which contained the Rush classic “Tom Sawyer.” UM debuted Rush songs on night one and night two of their Beacon Theatre run in New York City in honor Neil Peart who passed away on January 7 but had covered “Tom Sawyer” seven times before, although it hadn’t graced an Umphrey’s setlist in 264 shows (LTP: February 18, 2017). Umph returned to “Divisions” to close out the first frame.
The second set got underway with “Slacker” before “The Triple Wide” led into “In The Black.” Then, The Police cover “Synchronicity II” made just its second appearance since the band debuted it during their Law & Order themed 2019 Halloween concert. The band returned to The Bottom Half with the album’s title track ahead of a set-closing sequence of “Prowler,” “The Linear” and “Kula.” Umphrey’s McGee retook the stage for an encore of “Conduit.” Check out a clip of “Tom Sawyer” via Bob O’Brien below:
Umphrey’s McGee with another spectacular concert in Pittsburgh!! None better live! What band can do a Neil Peart tribute better than UM and Kris Myers…Tom Sawyer!@uurf @RVolpatt @dvesean @rushtheband @umphreysmcgee @uurf pic.twitter.com/PEAUKl5yUn
— Bob O’Brien (@irishbob88) January 25, 2020
Setlist via All Things Umphrey’s
Set One: Depth Charge > Mad Love, Rocker Part 2, Red Room[1], Liberty Echo > Blue Echo, Divisions > Tom Sawyer > Divisions
Set Two: Slacker, The Triple Wide > In The Black, Synchronicity II, The Bottom Half, Prowler > The Linear > Kula
Encore: Conduit
Notes:
[1] debut, original
last Depth Charge 04.01.2017 (248 shows)
last Tom Sawyer 02.18.2017 (264 shows)
