The Union Bar Iowa City IA: January 29, 2003
Notable:
They open with a mostly non-rhythmic improv jam, 7 minutes.
It turns into Resolution, with a nice improv section with Joel soloing on the organ. It’s a pretty long 9-minute version.
Space Funk Booty comes in without pause. BB welcomes everyone and says “thanks for coming everyone, let’s get a round of applause for Garage Mahal….”
Hurt Bird Bath…at the quiet part near the beginning you can hear the crowd go wild…they seem to know the tune.
The jam is labeled as a separate song, “Jimmy Stewart” in the track list, it’s a nice 13-minute improv jam. (with Eric Levy on keys with Joel)
Ringo. With a Jon Scofield jam (Wabash)!
The Triple Wide with an interesting Kris drums beginning, different than before with Mike, and from today’s…less electronic.
The Triple Wide moves into a drums section that includes bass and synth too, and has a guest; Alan Hertz on timbales.
Drums ends the set.
Andy’s Last Beer has Brendan chiming in on the vocals counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 to try and help the crowd. His guitar solo comes in strong and loud.
In The Kitchen, just the second time they are playing the additional verses (TV’s on too much…), plus the instrumental segments that connect the two. It’s the first performance of the “blankets that I stole should keep you warm” section too. The song is just about complete.
Nothing Too Fancy; fading in slow with rolling cymbals and synth, before the rhythm kicks in, and Ryan’s bass matches Brendan’s guitar riff.
Miss Gradenko, a short version by The Police.
Then right into Push the Pig. Brendan starts the vocals a bar early (and stops himself), then says “I’m sober too, that the fucked-up thing.” The guitar harmonies are fully formed now, into what the song melody will remain to this day. No jam yet, but a solid version.
The end it and go into Dump City. Solid version.
Brendan says “we have time for one more…if you e got nothing to do tomorrow, we’ll be playing with our good friends Garage Magal, down in Peoria.”
Kris starts the band off with some stick clicks, as they go into a very slow methodical The Crooked One. It does build and increases in tempo with the energy.
Brendan says “thanks everybody for coming out, stay safe, and out your hats a gloves on, ‘cause it calls as balls outside.”
Encore: Jake leads an Over the Hills and Far Away jam to begin Smell the Mitten. Brendan even teases then Led Zeppelin lyrics as they begin Mitten.
Setlist from allthings.umphreys.com
Set 1:
Intro[1] > Resolution > Space Funk Booty, Hurt Bird Bath[2], Ringo[3] > The Triple Wide[4] > Drums[4]
Set 2:
Andy’s Last Beer, In The Kitchen, Nothing Too Fancy[5], Miss Gradenko > Push the Pig > Dump City, The Crooked One
Encore:
Smell the Mitten[6]
Footnotes:
[1] started out of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure theme being played over the P.A.
[2] with Eric Levy on keys with Joel
[3] with Wabash (John Scofield) jam
[4] with Alan Hertz on timbales
[5] with Wappy Sprayberry and Glory jams and Merrily We Roll Along (Charlie Tobias, Murray Mencher, and Eddie Cantor) tease
[6] with Over the Hills and Far Away (Led Zeppelin) jam to open, sung over Smell the Mitten
Show Notes:
with You Really Got Me (Van Halen) tease after Andy’s Last Beer
with Woody Woodpecker theme (George Tibbles and Ramey Idriss) tease after Dump City
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.
