Half of Umphrey's McGee at the GAMH in San Francisco last summer...Now that I know what "Laddish" means, I think it applies here.

We've seen a few shows since we've been in London, but it's hardly the feast we used to get in San Francisco when seeing a great band was as easy as walking three blocks to The Yankee to catch everyone from Brad Barr to Perpetual Groove to Skerik. Everyone and everything comes through San Francisco; the city is equally a forgiving training ground for new side projects and experimental evenings as it is the place where bands come to throw down in their best attempt to do justice to the same venerated venues that launched Jerry, Janis, and Jefferson Airplane.

London’s obsessed with music, but it’s a bit different. The entire country knows about the latest chart topper (Pop Idol reject Chico) and Brit-pop darlings (Arctic Monkeys, not really my thing). They can name all of Girls Aloud, The Sugarbabes, and The Pussycat Dolls, but people sort of tilt their head and squint their eyes when I mention the Grateful Dead or Phish. In some ways it’s a welcome relief, but mostly it just makes me a bit homesick.

M saw Medeski Martin and Wood while I was in Tenerife last September. We’ve seen The New Mastersounds and Jeff Tweedy solo…two shows that we could have never seen in the US, and last week we saw Beth Orton at the end of her tour, back home in London at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. But on the whole – as expected – we’ve been hurting a bit for a musical fix that features a crowd full of dancers, a few dreadlocks here and there, and an artist that doesn’t need to play the single.

Feast or famine, I guess, because tomorrow night the onslaught starts: 6 nights of music in the next 9 days. I feel a bit like I do right before New Year’s Eve when the anticipation of music to come keeps me up at night. The funny thing is, we’re going to see 5 different bands, none of whom would make my Top 5 back in the States, but all of whom feel familiar and comforting and make me happy.

Tomorrow night we see Umphrey’s McGee from Chicago (my real hometown!), a band best described as “Improg” for their experimental combination of Prog Rock (think Yes, Rush, early Genesis, and King Crimson) and Improvisational Jams (jamband style…). I like Umphrey’s…I listen to their music a fair bit and I think they’re pretty damn talented, though not always my style. Right now my excitement at seeing them in London is completely disproportionate to my feelings about their music. I think I underestimated my need to put on my stinky tour shoes and just go dance.

Here’s hoping they play KaBump.