The first UMBowl was held last April, at Lincoln Hall in Chicago. The five-hour show comprised four quarters — like its namesake, the Super Bowl — all of which harnessed the power of tech to interact with the audience, letting it text to decide everything from the songs the band would play to how the songs were arranged.
The idea itself by was inspired by the band’s Stew Art (or S2) series, which launched in 2009. S2 is basically a series of 50-person shows during which fans can submit ideas for songs by texting words, phrases, etc. to a screen on stage, after which the band improvises a new jam.
“We wanted to take that concept and turn it into a full-fledged event where the entire night was based on music played by the band based on fan-driven choices,” says Kevin Browning, the band’s soundman.
Hence, UMBowl was born. Browning tells us that this first experiment (which sold out in a matter of minutes) was a huge success, with 98% of those surveyed following the show saying that they would attend again.
“Going into last year’s event, I was actually a little nervous about it because there was a lot of technology that was being used and we had to make sure that things would go well and work right,” says Joel Cummins, keyboardist for the band. “But as the event went along, and everyone was loving it, it dawned on me: ‘This should make sense, because we’re taking all the things they really want to hear and we’re pla ying them. They’re...
