Friday marked my third time seeing Unknown Mortal Orchestra at One Eyed Jack’s. Though I’d been very impressed by the band in the past, this time they were actually headlining the show instead of just opening for a different band. I am happy to report however that this was easily the best I’ve seen the band perform.

I enjoyed the first band Wampire’s set quite a bit. They played about half an hour of gritty pop tunes before they swiftly exited the stage to make way for the next band, Foxygen. These guys got a much better reaction from the crowd, though admittedly I was actually kind of put off by their set. The instrumentals were interesting enough, but the singer seemed really out of it, mumbling and wandering around the stage for the majority of their time. There were even a few times he shoved the mic in the face of one of his band members while they were singing or he was mashing on organ keys while someone was playing on it already.

Just when I was getting restless, however, Unknown Mortal Orchestra finally took the stage and exceeded all my expectations. After playing four tunes from their first album in a row, the band ripped through “Faded in the Morning” and “No Need For a Leader” off their most recent record, the latter of which was probably the best song they played all night. This iteration of UMO had more confidence, was more comfortable on stage, and sounded better overall than when I’d seen them in the past. They had plenty of energy and it really translated well. They had the crowd immersed from the moment they walked on stage.

I was pleased to see UMO perform so well considering I’d never seen them as a headliner before. Hopefully they can keep improving so that the next time I see them they will be even better. I’d like to see the band open up and jam a bit more like they did with the majority of the songs from their first album. The new material seems as though it was written with the live show in mind, which gives it a bit of an edge over the first album in that sense. Nevertheless, I would enjoy the band being a bit more indulgent in their live shows in terms of what they do with the songs. If they want to do a ten minute jam based on a two to three minute song, chances are I’d be fine with that.