DVD: SoundStage Presents: Umphrey’s McGee Live

(E1 Entertainment, 2009)

This Chicago combo has long been a fave on the national jam band scene, but it’s clear from this live performance that the band is definitely more prog than jam.

Filmed in High-Definition with 5.1 Surround Sound in front of a very enthusiastic hometown crowd during the summer of 2007, the sextet is very clearly enjoying itself as they power through more than two hours of intricately arranged and impeccably performed rock-reggae-jazz-funk-whateva.

Don’t think that just because you saw the band’s show on PBS-TV’s “Soundstage” that you’ve seen this whole DVD, either. The disc features six of the band’s favorites that were not broadcast for television.

And in addition, there are a pair of bonus performances – “Made to Measure” from their latest studio album “Mantis” and the as-yet-officially unreleased “Wizard Burial Ground” – filmed live at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre last December.

Soundstage Presents: Umphrey’s McGee – Live

Umphrey’s McGee rolls into Northern Lights in Clifton Park on Tuesday (November 17).