Concert review: My Morning Jacket at the Auditorium
Jim James was in awe of his surroundings Friday. At My Morning Jacket’s sold-out concert at the Auditorium Theatre, the singer gazed at the ceiling and let his imagination take care of the rest.
“God … built this theater,” he said. “You feel like you could jump through one of those paintings into the alternative universe of your choice.”
James and My Morning Jacket did a pretty good job of building their own alternative universe, imagining a place where Southern rock and psychedelic surrealism happily co-exist. It added up to a mighty summation of why the Louisville quintet has become one of the most formidable live rock acts of the last decade, gearing up for a headlining appearance in August at Lollapalooza in Grant Park.
Behind the musicians were what looked like five window frames, like portals of a space ship looking out into a sea of Dali-esque eyeballs and crackling patterns of static. Out front, James was a shaggy, bearded shaman, turning his coat into a dracula cape and stomping around in white, big-foot boots. He slid across the stage on his knees and teetered atop a riser to urge on drummer Patrick Hallahan with pumping fists.
His bandmates were nattily attired like Southern gentlemen in a sharp-shooting soul band, but they played with a woolly ferocity that nearly matched James’ energy. Carl Broemel moved among guitar, saxophone and pedal steel, delivering big rock chords or spectral country twang as needed. Bo Koster turned his keyboards into an orchestra, touching on everything from boogie piano to disco electro-beats. And Tom Blankenship calmly held everything together with spider-walking bass runs that straddled lead and rhythm roles.
My Morning Jacket’s 13-year career is less a linear progression than a tale of two bands; the earliest incarnation a group very much in the tradition of Southern rockers such as the Allman Brothers and beholden to the regional imperative to jam all night long on as many guitars as possible, the second configuration a quirkier outfit experimenting with pop, funk and reggae.
The band marries those two impulses in concert and trumps its comparatively pallid, inconsistent recordings. If My Morning Jacket’s songwriting can come across as gimmicky in the recording studio – the tongue-in-cheek funk of “Highly Suspicious,” the Up-With-People choir in “Holdin’ on to Black Metal” -- on stage it’s all muscle and dynamics, complete with false endings and slow-burn ascents. Even the dubious “Highly Suspicious” packed a floor-rumbling keyboard bass riff that evoked Led Zeppelin’s “Trampled Underfoot.”
Broemel would go minutes at a time without playing his guitar, before entering with a stun-gun riff or lacerating fill. Hallahan’s drumming was versatile enough to handle everything from the hypnotic “Victory Dance” to the frantic “One Big Holiday.”
At the center of it all was James’ voice. Beyond the stomping, sliding ring-leader he plays on stage, he is just as magnetic when he’s standing still behind a microphone, his tenor vocals swathed in reverb. When Broemel added his own high, wordless harmonies, the sound was otherworldly – like a choir punching through to an alternative universe.
greg@gregkot.com
My Morning Jacket set list Friday at the Auditorium Theatre:
1 Victory Dance
2 Circuital
3 The Day is Coming
4 Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2
5 Off the Record
6 Wordless Chorus
7 First Light
8 You Wanna Freak Out
9 Wonderful (The Way I Feel)
10 Golden
11 Gideon
12 I’m Amazed
13 Where to Begin
14 Anytime
15 Dancefloors
16 Slow Slow Tune
17 Movin’ Away
18 Honest Man
19 Holdin’ On to Black Metal
20 Highly Suspicious
21 One Big Holiday
Encore
22 Steam Engine
23 Smokin’ From Shootin’
24 Run Thru
25 Mahgeetah
Great review greg, i was sitting right by you tonight. Outstanding effort by MMJ.
Posted by: Richard C. Sachs | June 18, 2011 at 02:04 AM
Fantastic review. Right on. My ears are still ringing from last nights show! The volume was a little much for what the "Golden Rainbow" could handle, but overall a great show.
Posted by: Yim | June 18, 2011 at 07:56 AM
incredible show.
Posted by: Mike | June 20, 2011 at 10:48 AM
I saw them both in Milwaukee and Chicago, but being part of the older crowd I am 50 years old) I left the Milwaukee show just a little early which I hate to do, but I knew I had to save everything for Friday. And boy was I glad!!!
Jim, Patrick, Tom, Carl and Bo are just the best. I have seen everyone from Zeppelin to B52's and everything in between, but MMJ - well what can I say? They are life changing everytime. I would happily go to every show of theirs if I could
Posted by: patti M | June 20, 2011 at 05:46 PM