by Maomew Human
Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss of Umphrey’s McGee surprised a Chicago audience this week when their annual “Acoustic Christmas” charity concert abruptly changed motifs and turned into a dual guitar shredfest. Fans who entered the Park West expecting to hear a combination of Christmas carols and acoustic rarities were instead greeted by a set of distortion-heavy Umphrey’s favorites. After a brief Nopener opener (non-lounge), Jake and Bayliss launched into a 20 minute Wizards Burial Ground – sans Kris Myers, Andy Farag and Ryan Stasik – though occasionally joined by keyboardist Joel Cummins on kazoo.
“We really wanted to break from the mold of the past few years,” stated Cinninger. “Surprise is part of what keeps the music fresh for ourselves and the audience. The duality of bringing something both familiar and unique is a challenge that we love to accept.” The duo did try to maintain a traditional holiday feel, despite the experimental rock show ensuing: there were several traditional holiday covers (all played in drop d tuning), a catered diner of Matzo ball Soup (with an All-You-Can-Drink Manischewitz Wine Bar), and a fake sleigh on stage from which Farag eventually appeared, donning a “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” nose and joining on the congas for “Andy’s Last Nog”.
“I think it went really well,” stated Farag after the show. “Would have been better with drums throughout, but you know, maybe I’m just biased. I will say that I had no clue how Joel was going to pull off the apex in the Ocean Billy jam on a kazoo, but that man is a mastermind – he found a way!”
Fans had mixed reactions to the performance after the show. “It was certainly strange to hear Tribute to Spinal Shaft without Myers on the kit,” said one fan. “However, the show was a bit more energetic and the crowd a bit more wild, bringing the essence of an Umphrey’s show into this charity event. I even heard that the real Santa got arrested outside of the show!”
No word on if “All Electric” Christmas will become a yearly tradition and override the previously Acoustic model.