Umphrey’s McGee’s innovative Stew Art Series (aka, “S2”) – an interactive fan experience where audience members “conduct” the band’s live improvisations - continues to garner industry attention for its ground breaking approach to building the ever-important band/fan relationship. Most recent: Time.com just posted a video feature on the band and their S2 series.
Umphrey’s will host their next S2 event this Friday, October 22, at Michigan’s Kalamazoo State Theatre. As with all S2 shows, the event sold out in just minutes.
Hosted as individual events before that evening’s already schedule show, Umphrey’s Stew Art Series is a crowd-sourced improvisation experiment, in which all the music performed by the group on stage will be entirely directed by S2 audience members. Tickets for each event sell out in just minutes.
For S2, fans submit their ideas by texting descriptive words, phrases, and pop culture references (pretty much whatever came to mind), to the Umphrey's Mozes mobile interface. The suggestions are then filtered by the band’s long time Sound Caresser Kevin Browning and projected on a screen for the band to digest and turn into the next phase of the jam. The band’s music varies stylistically with suggestions ranging from “an afternoon bus ride in Jamaica” to “drinking pina coladas…in a hurricane”. As one elated fan commented after a show, “S2 was the coolest thing I have ever been a part of. It’s always been a dream of mine to meet the band, and the opportunity to participate in leading the Jam for the band was a dream come true as well.”
Umphrey’s McGee will release a collection of new this fall. In a departure from the standard "album" format, Umphrey’s will instead offer up the highly anticipated new material via a series of digital EPs. To get fans warmed-up, Umphrey’s is offering a free MP3 download of the band’s brand new, yet-to-see-the-light-of-day song “Wellwishers.” Folks can download it here, and while there can snatch up the Wellwishers widget to easily share it with their friends.
Visit www.umphreys.com for news of the bite sized music portions from the band’s perspective, and look for full details regarding the releases to be announced in the coming weeks.
Look for Umphrey’s McGee on tour now. Their current list of fall tour dates is as follows:
Thursday, October 21 Mr. Smalls Theatre Millvale PA
Friday, October 22 Kalamazoo State Theatre Kalamazoo MI w/ S2 Event
Saturday, October 23 House of Blues - Cleveland Cleveland OH
Sunday, October 24 Bluebird Nightclub Bloomington IN
Wednesday, October 27 People's Court Des Moines IA
Thursday, October 28 - Friday, October 29 Canopy Club Urbana IL
Saturday, October 30 - Sunday, October 31 The Pageant St. Louis MO
Wednesday, November 3 - Thursday, November 4 Higher Ground Ballroom South Burlington VT
Friday, November 5 - Saturday, November 6 9:30 Club Washington D.C.
Tuesday, November 9 Jefferson Theater Charlottesville VA
Wednesday, November 10 Legends at Appalachian State University Boone NC
Thursday, November 11 - Friday, November 12 Bear Creek Music & Art Fest Live Oak, FL
Wednesday, December 29, Thursday, December 30, and Friday, December 31 Riviera Theatre Chicago IL
Thursday, January 20 - Monday, January 24 Mayan Holidaze Puerto Morelos MEX
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Jake Hertzog
This will be the 35th installment of 
Back in 2005, Denver's number one "jamband", Polytoxic, wanted to put on a show that could showcase all the great local musicians they had been playing with for the past few years. They decided to re-enact The Band's "The Last Waltz", a concert film by Martin Scorsese from 1978 of The Band's last performance that included all of that era's greatest musicians - Eric Clapton, Dr John, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, etc. The show was held at Dulcinea's in Denver's Capitol Hill area on May 25, 2005, and Polytoxic planned on it being a fun little show that would garner a little bit of interest. It sold out in minutes, surprising band and fans alike, and became the biggest show they had ever thrown. So big, in fact, they decided to do it again in 2005, this time on the night before Thanksgiving at Cervante's Masterpiece Ballroom.
Along with announcing next year’s dates, the 
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The members of Phish – Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon, Page McConnell and Trey Anastasio -- are also honored to take part in the event, which comes on the eve before the launch of their fall tour. Colorado was the site of Phish’s first extended tour outside of the Northeast, and the band has always felt a deep connection to the community.
The Electric Avenue Festival, which is slated to take place over Labor Day weekend on the streets of Historic Five Points in Downtown Denver, has just announced their two-day schedule. The event will highlight over 22 live bands on two stages, arts and crafts vendors, outdoor beer and liquor tents as well as food booths representing the best in Colorado eatery. And, at a price of only $65 for a two-day pass or $130 for a two-day VIP Pass, it may be the most exciting and definitely the most affordable event in Colorado for music goers over the holiday.