Umphrey's still pleasing

An evening with South Bend’s hometown heroes Umphrey’s McGee is always guaranteed to be quite a treat. Throw in instrumental-groove powerhouse Sound Tribe Sector 9, a beautiful forecast and a phenomenal outdoor venue nestled along the White River and suddenly nothing else seems to matter.

As Indianapolis (and almost all of the Midwest, at that) is more-or-less a hometown show for Umphrey’s McGee, Sound Tribe Sector 9 started off the night with 1 1/2 hourlong set of tight collaborative grooves that took the seemingly more rock-oriented crowd a bit to get into. Unlike Umphrey’s McGee, STS9 tends to play more of a group-driven solid piece of music rather than focusing on individual members’ solo skills. As the sun continued to set and the beer taps continued to flow, the enthusiasm spread from person to person like wildfire.

STS9 played an extremely solid set, but the majority of Hoosiers in attendance were looking forward to their beloved Umphrey’s McGee.

At 9:30 p.m. on the dot, the six men took the stage to an almost-deafening round of wails and applause.

In typical Umphrey’s fashion, the band began the set with what seemed to be a tribute to their more electro-oriented tour mates STS9; a four-on-the-floor dance tune called “The Triple Wide.”

Almost immediately, glow sticks filled the air and Indianapolis’ White River State Park became a 6,000-person-strong outdoor rave.

It wasn’t long before the true colors of Umphrey’s McGee began to show through the popular dance number. Guitarists Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss switched on their distortion and out came the rock, as did a seamless transition into an older favorite, “2x2.”

As the concert progressed, I couldn’t help but feel like I was at an Umphrey’s show circa 2003. The setlist for the night continued with the ever-eclectic “Get In The Van,” “Slacker,” “Blue Echo,” “FF” and monster set-closer “Divisions”; along with newer “Walletsworth” and a much-welcomed tribute to the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Rhinoceros” was for the most part void of Umphrey’s recent prog-rock elements. They even managed to sneak a little bit of Funkadelic’s “One Nation Under A Groove” in to “Slacker.”

“Indianapolis, it’s been too long and we apologize, but we’re here to make up for that,” Bayliss said. The last time the band played in Indianapolis was during a two-night run at The Murat Centre’s Egyptian Ballroom April 6-7, 2007, which the band released as a live CD called “Live At The Murat” last October.

And make up for it they did. With an 11 p.m. curfew, the band began “Divisions” at roughly 10:40 p.m. The crowd knew this would be the final song, and everyone was just fine with that. Twenty flawless minutes later, the musical roller coaster that is “Divisions” came to an end and the six men from Indiana left the stage to nothing but smiles.

The two bands have been on the road together since the first stop of the cooperative 20-date tour on July 10 in Madison, Wisc. The tour will culminate with a two-night stand at Masquerade Music Park in Atlanta – just a short drive from STS9’s hometown of Snellville, Ga.