In what seems to be an interesting and slightly headscratcher lineup, Tortoise will be opening for ChiTown Jamband Umphrey’s McGee on Sunday, 12/30/07 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. This show will be part of a three-night stint at the Aragon culminating in a very special 10th Anniversary New Year’s show.

I guess it might make some sense– both bands are “Chicago Bands Done OK” so they’d be playing for local crowds. And, although Tortoise fits in the Post Rock genre, they’ve been flirting with the jam scene a bit by playing Bonnaroo two years. Umphrey’s is a band that likes to toy with progrock and jazz so in some respects is a band in kindred spirit. It would be interesting to see if they collaborate on anything. Certainly both bands can improvise in a live setting.

Umphrey’s is giving away mp3’s of their show in Georgia on 10/14/07. I guess they weren’t able to use their live engineer to record it and clean it up for sale on their site so they are giving it away. It includes a new song-in-progress “Jazz Odyssey” and a cover of “Young Lust” by Pink Floyd. It comes in two zip files. Click Here for the post on their Facebook page which includes links to download.