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Concert Review: My Morning Jacket
By Mack Rawden: 2008-08-19 11:39:49
Louisville is right on the border between Indiana and Kentucky, a little slice of the Heartland, the only place this side of Pleasantville where one could still expect a slew of smiling middle-aged soccer moms and lawn chairs at a rock concert. It was deep inside this suburbia of hour long waits at Appelbees’ and high school basketball obsession in which critics’ darlings My Morning Jacket spent their formative years, and it was back inside this cocoon of unsolicited compliments and random smiles they returned on Saturday night.
Nixing a headliner in favor of a three hour set, My Morning Jacket ripped through all their favorites, showcasing both their impressive talent and knack for making moronic set list decisions. We’ll get back to those asinine song choices in a minute, but first….the mayor. Yes, mayor Jerry Abramson was on hand to introduce the local products, enthusiastically telling the crowd the band had just “sold out Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall” in a bizarre speech which one concertgoer described as “Howard Dean-esque.” Not that his little introduction was the only thing eccentric or unusual about the evening. The concert was a full-blown celebration of Louisville, featuring a cavalcade of local entrepreneur tents, a performance by little kids playing percussion, and, yes, even some creepy life-sized puppets, one of whom‘s head fell off during the encore. The marionette in question? Abraham Lincoln. You can’t make this nonsense up. So, anyway, the concert started fifteen minutes late because organizers “wanted to make sure everyone who had tickets got in.” This led the band to take the stage around eight-fifteen much to the delight of the hometown crowd, which was amusingly split between local kids overtly underage drinking and forty-pluses who armed themselves with lawn chairs, blankets, and wide-eyed, proud grins of approval. The first hour or so was a seamless trek through the band’s back catalog with both the lightshow and songs dazzling fans. And. Then. Things. Went. Wrong. Far be it from me to question Jim James’ love of acoustic but driving the audience into a frenzy, only to negate all of the positive energy by playing three acoustic songs in a row is just a dumbfuck move, especially when the lead singer in question enunciates about as well as Eddie Vedder, making the vocals sound more like a meandering depressive croon than a thoughtful lens into the soul. The energy picked up a bit upon the full band’s return and much of the ginormous hole James had dug for himself was repaved by the main set’s close. After a ten minute break or so, My Morning Jacket unleashed an epic twelve song encore, peppering the crowd with glow sticks and spontaneous jam band-like solos. This was my first foray into the M.M.J. live performancepalooza, and it definitely left a few unanswered questions. Without a doubt, Jim James and crew have the talent to become one of only a few must see performance groups of their generation, but they’re still a few less acoustic sidetreks away from becoming a band I’d go out of my way to see again. RELATED: my morning jacket, jim james
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August 19th, 2008 at 18:17
Dude. The MMJ show in Louisville could not have been better. That especially includes the acoustic section of the show, which perfectly showcased (much like the 'Evil Urges' disc does) a band that is not afraid to mix it up when you least expect it. My first MMJ show. Totally hooked.