The D Man and Stark the Vinyl Shark downed some cheesesteaks and wings as the Cubs handled the Pirates in the wild card playoff. Then we made our way to the Complex for a night with Louisville's finest rockers, My Morning Jacket, now an American touring institution. The band recently played an epic, career-spanning set at Red Rocks, and the band's wide-open guitar rock, with flourishes of southern soul, alt-country, and folk rock, is unmistakably their own.
From fledgling, opening band in a small club all the way to festival headliner in front of 30,000 people, The D Man has seen My Morning Jacket four times. This time around, the band played in front of a packed indoor venue, which was obviously filled with longtime fans. MMJ's setlist varies from night to night, and we were treated with some choice cuts. Opener "Believe," from this year's The Waterfall, bursted with faithful optimism in the face of the unknown. Back-to-back songs from Z, celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, personified the records spacey jams; "It Beats 4 U" and "Wordless Chorus" were early highlights. A strong rendition of "Circuital" followed.
The band spent 12 minutes simmering and then roaring through "Dondante," the heavy closing track from Z. Carl Broemel set down his axe for the saxophone, drawing out pain-soaked notes during the song's finale. James went solo acoustic for "Get the Point," perhaps the most direct but respectful break-up song of all time. The surprise of the night came with the opening notes of "I Will Sing You Songs," the glorious, reverb-drenched track from 2003's It Still Moves. It sounded brilliant, and Stark the Vinyl Shark's only regret was that it didn't wander long enough into an extended jam, the sweet spot was so exquisite.
The five-song encore was legit. "Victory Dance," with its rallying, keyboard war cries, bested the album version by leaps and bounds. "Compound Fracture," my favorite song from the new record, crackled with a groovy, R&B feel. "Off the Record" rocked, of course, and "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. II" extended into dark, bass-heavy dreaminess. Thinking that was a fitting end to the show, I thought to myself that we may have missed out on one of the classic titans from It Still Moves, still my favorite MMJ album. Much to my delight, the band ripped into "One Big Holiday," and the last hammer dropped. One of this century's great American rock songs, OBH drilled home a simple truth: we are lucky to have MMJ playing somewhere, night after night.
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