Park West Chicago IL: November 16, 2002
Notable:
A weird synth buzzing intro and the band opens the show with a strong Smell the Mitten.
The Mitten builds and when it ends, JaJunk is ready to fill the void. It sounds confident and established.
This JaJunk is maybe the best yet since the debut on Sept. 6. It getting well established as a strong soloing vehicle, but we’re still yet to see it open up into full improv jam territory, or sandwich mode.
However, this JaJunk does end with a 5-minute improv jam that preps the emergence of Walletsworth from the jam.
After Walletsworth they welcome the crowd and acknowledge The New Deal for a great opening act.
They launch into a jam that has up-tempo teases of Professor Wormbog, and drifts into more In the Kitchen exploration. In the archive, the tracks are labeled “jam” and “The Kitchen” totaling more than 12 minutes.
This time the In the Kitchen jam starts at a faster tempo, coming from the quick-paced Professor jam. Brendan recites the same lyrics we’ve been hearing in this song’s development; this is the third performance.
Still no chorus, or even a B-section yet. The jam was with Darren Shearer from The New Deal on drums, and Mikey on percussion with Andy.
Before the standard Miss Tinkles Overture > Mulche’s Odyssey, we hear Mikey say to the band, “Tinkles into Glory” making me think that Mulche’s perhaps is t seen as a separate song yet. They still haven’t played either one alone.
The go right into Glory after Mulche’s. BB says “it’s good to be in Chicago.”
Lots of Jake on the beatbox in this 40s Theme. A strong BB solo to finish the first set.
Brendan introduces the second set by saying “ladies and gentlemen, we don’t know what this is called, but somebody gave it to Jake and asked him to play it.” Jake starts playing the item; to me it sounds like Tenacious D’s “sax-a-boom” kids toy Jack Black would sometimes play. In allthings, the notes say it’s called a stylophone.
They transition into Andy’s Last Beer to open the set proper.
ALB slams directly into the middle section of Out of Order in a super-tight transition, and they play it just through the ending section.
Then they go right back into the final odd-meter section of Andy’s Last Beer.
Hurt Bird Bath gets a funny introduction: Joel uses his Spinal Tap accent and says “this one is the first single on our new album” and someone else (not sure who) chimes in with the Beastie Boys quote “this next one is the first song on our new album.”
The end of HBB has a cool improvisational jam, just labeled “jam” in the track list at archive.org, which lasts about 7 minutes.
It flows right into Uncommon, and then a near-perfect Syncopated Strangers.
The Dump City gets a dedication from Joel: “this one goes out to Gary.” Does he mean Gary, Indiana, the place that the song is written about? Or, is there a guy named Gary in the audience?
The first jam in Der Bluten Kat has interesting JaJunk teases, which morph into Uncle Wally. It’s the first time Ive heard the left-right speaker mix, performed by sound man Kevin Browning, aligning with the Uncle Wally lyrics: “and I can tell left from right…”
Back into DBK and then a short middle jam section starts with some cool electronic sounds from Joel’s synth, and a cool rhythm from Andy on the triangle.
More electronic weirdness in the second improv jam section of DBK.
Who is Tyrone Willingham? the Triple Wide encore is dedicated to him, by Brendan. BB has mentioned him a lot over the last few months of shows.
The Police’s Miss Gradenko finishes this excellent Umphrey’s show at Park West in Chicago.
Brendan sends everyone off with “thanks everybody, don’t forget to floss.”
Setlist from allthings.umphreys.com
Set 1:
Smell the Mitten, JaJunk-> Walletsworth, Jam[1], Miss Tinkle’s Overture > Mulche’s Odyssey > Glory, 40’s Theme
Set 2:
Andy’s Last Beer[2] > Out Of Order[3] > Andy’s Last Beer, Hurt Bird Bath > Uncommon, Syncopated Strangers, Dump City, Der Bluten Kat-> Uncle Wally > Der Bluten Kat[4]
Encore:
The Triple Wide, Miss Gradenko
Footnotes:
[1] with Darren Shearer on drums, and Mike on percussion with Andy; with Professor Wormbog teases; with “In the Kitchen”
[2] with Jake on stylophone during intro
[3] ending only
[4] with Pay the Snucka (part III) tease
Show Notes:
with Woody Woodpecker theme (George Tibbles and Ramey Idriss) tease after Uncommon
Links to Audio and Apps
The Live Music Archive app (iOS) and the Taper’s Section app (Android) is a great way to find and listen to these shows. You can stream, download for offline listening, save favorites, and mark shows as already listened to. The app pulls all data directly from the public repository of live music recordings posted at archive.org.
