Last night, one of my favorite bands and a band that has gone from intolerable to one that I kinda like sometimes began a co-headlining tour which is plagued with the worst name ever:
the D.U.M.B. Tour.
The two bands playing are the Disco Biscuits and Umphrey's McGee; if you mix the four words up and form an acronym, you get D.U.M.B. Pretty dumb, don't you think?
Check the logo, which is a combination of UM's four-leaf clover and tDB's odd little circle logo:
To me, it looks like some brilliant promoter came up with a D.U.M.B. idea, and this is the result.
I kid. Seriously, I've been advocating these double bills for years as a way for small- to medium-sized bands to cross-pollinate their audiences. My first pick to do something like this was Brothers Past and Perpetual Groove. One northern band, one southern band, both with pretty fanatical (though small and virtually nonexistent outside their home territory) fanbases. Set an early start time, alternate headlining spots in clubs around the country, watch fanbase grow exponentially.
Well, it didn't quite happen like that.
Instead, let me tell you the tale of two bands that fell in love with each other so deeply that some of their respective fans got sick of the other group's music. I don't know when or where it happened (though I believe it was in Amsterdam for the first Jam in the 'Dam), but this is the situation with the Disco Biscuits and Umphrey's McGee.
Umphrey's McGee and the Disco Biscuits stumble around Amsterdam.
Thanks to PT's SleekLazy for hooking up the photo for me
Some people are sick of seeing the two bands packaged together: they are playing this five show southern tour and Trancegression, a co-headlining festival in mid-July in Colorado (a trip I had to unfortunately cancel). Together, they're also the main attractions for Caribbean Holidaze, a destination festival (that I am happy to be attending). Others know that creatively the musicians play off of each other rather well. Many (myself including) hope for a return of the Brain Damaged Eggmen, a hybridized band featuring members of both groups that plays Pink Floyd and Beatles' covers, exclusively.
Umphrey's McGee has grown on me since I first saw them. My opinion echoes the complaints of many others: technically, they are extremely talented musicians, but much of their music lacks soul. Also, I find that a majority of their jams sound like they were ripped straight out of a Phish setlist. But sometimes they rock pretty hard, and some of their podcasts featuring soundboard recordings of crispy material get regular playback on my work computer.
I really like the Disco Biscuits, and I kinda like UM. But that combination wasn't going to get me to drive to Atlanta on Saturday to see them. However, the D.U.M.B. promoter had a good idea: add a solid Georgia band to the lineup to play a late night show. The fact that the band is Perpetual Groove, one of my top three groups to see live, made the decision to collect the crew and trek to Georgia a no-brainer. Of course, the fact that I have a lovely lady whom I can't wait to see doesn't hurt, either.
What will hurt is leaving Perpetual Groove's late night show (starting at 10 p.m. and ending at 2 a.m.), getting in the car and driving right back down to South Florida in time for the hometown D.U.M.B. show at the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre. Normally the ride back home after a show is brutal, especially if you leave immediately following an eight-hour rage-fest. I'm not saying that this one won't be brutal, but the fact that there is a show the next day is a bright light at the end of a long tunnel.
Tickets for all the D.U.M.B. Tour shows, including tonight's in Portsmouth, VA and tomorrow's in Raleigh, NC, are available here. Hope to see you out.
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