May 12, 2000 Bell's Brewery Kalamazoo, Michigan To break onto the scene in one of Michigan’s biggest cities, Umphrey’s was quite literally saved by the Bell’s. 2000 marked a shift in the band's Mitten market strategy with van trips to two new cities that year, Kalamazoo (8 shows) and Ann Arbor (1 show). A day-trippable 70 miles away from the band's South Bend hub with ~35,000 college students in close proximity, K-Zoo was a desirable new tour stop, especially since the town featured one of the most successful family-run craft breweries in the nation . Umphrey's played its first Kalamazoo gig at Bell's Brewery in February 2000. That first year, the band split its venue allegiance evenly between Bell's and the eclectic Club Soda . An immediate synergy between band and crowd congealed to help Kalamazoo become one of the most frequented cities during the band's early years. Twenty years later, UM has played 33 total shows in Kalamazoo (the band's 11...
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