November 30, 2006
Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY
Anyone who complains that modern rock is lacking in bombast must not be acquainted with My Morning Jacket. Their sound is a cauldron of influences boiling over with a unique style that ranges from psychedelic country to heady metal. When it comes to their live shows, there’s something for everyone: some Flying V head-banging, strobe lights and above all else a band that can deliver musically.
My Morning Jacket opened their show at the Roseland with “One Big Holiday.” The song’s blistering guitar solos were a perfect start to their set, and it was immediately easy to become mesmerized. For effects, the band is accompanied by little more than flashing lights, and while light shows have been exhausted to a point where they’ve become a concert standard, with My Morning Jacket playing amongst them you can’t help but think, “Oh yeah, that’s what psychedelics are for.” Front man Jim James remained silent between songs, lumbering around the stage when he was without his guitar. James’ stage presence added a little mystery to a band that already has an epic sound, especially as he held a stuffed animal up to crowd as he belted out “Wordless Chorus.”
The first set also included the reggae beats of “Off the Record” and a killer “Lay Low,” which blew the recorded version out of the water. The band continued with more from their latest studio release, Z, with “What a Wonderful Man.” The true highlight of the show came during the second set with “Run Thru,” at the end of which drummer Patrick Hallahan took the audience through some percussion madness that would have made Cream’s “Toad” proud. And amongst those psychedelic freak-outs, they seamlessly threw in some laidback country with “Golden” and didn’t miss a beat.
Throughout their two long sets, My Morning Jacket perfectly straddled the realms of spacey jams and heavy rocking. There was never a moment when the crowd grew anxious waiting for a tune to build back up, but they didn’t beat you over the head with flashy riffs, either. Sometimes it is just as important for a band to know when to hold back and make that bombast count.
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