I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 25, 2015] My Morning Jacket

I had made a list of bands that I really wanted to see.  My Morning Jacket was pretty near the top of it.  My friend Jay and I marveled over singer Jim James’ use of a cape (which sadly he did not wear at this show).  Of course, it wasn’t just the cape we wanted to see, it was the whole band.

So when they were announced to headline the XPNFest, I knew I had to get tickets (the fact that St. Vincent was co-headlining was a huge bonus).

While the crowd was good for St. Vincent, they were ecstatic for MMJ.  Everyone was on their feet the whole show.  And what a show.  The band played for 2 and a half hours, running through much of their new album as well as classics from their past few records.

I had heard that MMJ were a big time jam band, and indeed they were.  In fact, even though Neil Young did some amazing jamming and soloing during his recent set, this was the first real “jam band” show I’ve been to.  Where the band takes a song in different directions, wending through different moods and styles like the 20 minute “Deodato”–more on that later.

In fact, each song was extended by some impressive soloing.  Interestingly, Jim James took a number of solos that were just himself on stage.  And I felt like his solos weren’t really that impressive.  There was a bluesy one that was very cool and one or two others that were more textural than “impressive.”  It’s clear that lead guitarist Carl Broemel can solo amazingly, but he didn’t get any features, just wailing solos during the songs.

I was pretty excited that they started with “Off the Record” which had some pretty impressive jamming in the middle.  Jim James was wearing an awesome jacket with neon stripes all over it and a pair of sunglasses that he never removed.  It was 90 degrees out that day.  How did he stand it?

Their drum head had the cover of Waterfall on it and the camera focused in on that as they launched into Waterfall’s “Compound Fracture.”  And then they totally surprised me when Broemel played saxophone for Circuital‘s “First Light” (which has a sax, but which I never assumed was done by someone in the band).  Then they moved into a huge crowd favorite with “Wordless Chorus” and everyone loves to sing along to a chorus with no words.  It was super fun.

As I think back to the last few records, I’m not sure which one I like best, so the fact that they played songs from Evil Urges as well was pretty awesome.

They dipped back to the It Moves album for “Master Plan”  It’s a moody song on the record, and they made it even moodier.  The big chords sounded even bigger than on record, though, when they bashed them out.

Amazingly, for all the songs they played from The Waterfall (six out of ten), they didn’t play “Big Decisions” (the single) or “Only Memories Remain” (which on the deluxe version there are two versions).  Of course “Memories” is a mellow song and the band were definitely not mellow at this show.

Indeed, they barely even stopped to let James talk.  He mentioned that St. Vincent was an amazing guitarist (true) which led me to hope that she might join them for a song, however unlikely that seemed (she didn’t).  They played “Spring (Among the Living)” and then James told us about the hippo that he saw over at the aquarium.  https://instagram.com/p/5kt5DQRy7l/

I have seen the hippo many times myself, but I think I would have been more amazed to see Jim James staring at a hippo.  How cool would that have been?  (Psst, hey, is that beardy guy over there the guy from My Morning Jacket?  No, couldn’t be, could it?  Go ask him  No way).  I often wonder what bands do when they are in a town for a few hours.  Well, go to the aquarium apparently.

Then the band launched into what I gather is a showstopper–a ragingly long version of the slow burner “Dondante.”  So this is where I realized I was seeing a real jam band as they stretched this song out for 15, possibly 20, minutes.  It had slow sections and a sax solo and it slowed down even more and drifted around.  It was very unlike the 20 minute guitar wailing of Neil Young.  And this is where I admit that Sarah and I both had to sit for a bit.  The previous week’s late night Neil Young show, my late night with Modest Mouse, (not to mention that it was really frikkin hot in there) got the better of us.  And we had to sit during the lengthy solo.  I think the spooky drift of the tunes and the tons of pot may have had an impact too.  I felt a little woozy.  Fortunately, we got to watch the screen and see what was happening.  Like when Broemel switched to sax–the song felt like it had been going on for ten or fifteen minutes by the time the sax was grabbed and then it all began anew.  I just watched this version of Dondante and I feel like ours was much much longer and a whole lot darker.

Broemel by the way also sings great falsetto almost equally James’ voice, which I must not forget to mention sounded amazing.  All of those high notes he hit with ease.

Between this and the following two songs, from Waterfall, the show seemed to get very dark (in mood and lighting)–including a very moody “Thin Line.”

Speaking of the heat the band often had black towels draped over their heads–I assume they were chilled.  James did it many times and Sarah commented that it was like a cape for his head.

They brought it back to the bright side with an amazing version of “Circuital” and then reaching all the way back to At Dawn for “Phone Went West.”  And finally the classic “Mahgeetah” to close out the set.

The band came back a few minutes later for an encore.  It was pretty late at this point, so I assumed they’d play “Big Decisions” and be done.  But no, they played four lengthy songs for their encore

They started it with “Believe” which was bright and uplifting (and at this point a whole group of people to our left took off which allowed us to move into the middle a little more, which improved our view and picture taking by ten fold–it’s amazing what a few feet can do).  Then it was the opener from Circuital and “Touch Me Pt 2,” which they stretched out for ages.  James was playing a small keyboard for that song.  And also was walking around with some strange little box (I’m unclear what that did exactly).

And then they ended with the classic “One Big Holiday” which they (and we) just never wanted to end.  And that was okay, because it sounded amazing.

It was an amazing show, even if we were exhausted by the end (and those guys played Newport Folk Festival the day before, backing up Roger Waters).

Since XPN hosted the event, they have some great closeup photos and a couple of decent videos as well. You can see them here.

When My Morning Jacket announced that they’d be coming back again in November, Jay and I secured tickets so we’ll be able to see them again later in the fall.  Nice.

And if Modest Mouse had a little mascot, so does My Morning Jacket.  We called him poncho bear.  Sarah says she saw James catch him when he fell over, but I missed it.

 

Camden

Off the Record [Z]

Compound Fracture [Water]

First Light [Circ]

Wordless Chorus [Z]

Evil Urges [EU]

In Its Infancy (The Waterfall) [Water]

Master Plan [Moves]

Lay Low [Z]

Spring (Among the Living) [Water]

Dondante [Z]

Tropics (Erase Traces) [Water]

Thin Line [Water]

Circuital [Circ]

Phone Went West [Dawn]

Mahgeetah [Moves]

encore

Believe (Nobody Knows) [Water]

Victory Dance [Circ]

Touch Me I’m Going to Scream, Pt. 2 [EU]

One Big Holiday [Moves]