MOG

My Morning Jacket played their second Glastonbury festival over the weekend. Sure they might be trying to make their reverb heard round-the-world on their current Euro tour,  but the Kentucky rockers' performance at Radio City Music Hall on June 20th is still ringing in my ear.

When I first got MMJ's Evil Urges, I was nervous for the band. I didn't like. I thought it was weird - Jim James going all R&B on tracks like "Highly Suspicious." Didn't like it as much as I did when I first heard Z. Since initially hearing Evil Urges I've seen MMJ live twice, once in the pouring rain at Bonnaroo and this Radio City Music Hall show on June 20th.

My final verdict is...that after seeing them perform Evil Urges onstage I like it a lot more...a lot lot more. I even find myself singing the refrain to "Highly Suspicious" like an idiot sometimes and not caring.

The raw energy of the crowd, which skewed dudes, was remarkable. Everyone was there to drink whiskey and have a good time. As soon as MMJ opened with Evil Urges' title-track it got pretty crazy. I surely thought that from the pure euphoria of the crowd Jim James would've been compelled to say something right away. Instead the band just rushed through one track after another...well, I might add. It took Jim Jim about six songs before saying anything. He seemed a bit taken a back by it all. But whatever bashfulness Jim Jim might have had playing "one of the most spiritual places on earth," quickly left as he ran across the wings to the upper tiers of RCMH.

When James did talk he had this to share with the crowd. "New York City - the land of possibilty. We were sitting backstage just trying to soak it all, to soak all the spirits that live in this building...we tried to breathe them in, absorb them in. I sit very quietly and pretend that the top of my head is hollow. I pretend I'm a cotton candy machine at the fair. The cotton candy machine will spin, spin all the shit out of my brain which is cotton candy and then when I breathe back in I'll try to breath in all the good stuff which is the spirits in the hall." And for the most part Jim James and co. hacked away through the rest of the show, playing one long set, pausing for a break and then coming out for possibly the longest encore ever.

But in the end it was me getting the schooling. The best part of seeing My Morning Jacket get all comfortable playing Evil Urges jamming to the crowd was the oldies. Old hits like "Golden" "Bermuda Highway" and "The Way He Sings" fit so perfectly with the newbies "Sec Walkin" "I'm Amazed" "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Part 1 & 2." It was the perfect setting to fall in love with Evil Urges.

Setlist:

Evil Urges
Off The Record
I'm Amazed
Highly Suspicious
What a Wonderful Man
Touch Me Part 1
Sec Walkin
Golden
Thank You Too
The Way That He Sings
Two Halves
Phone Went West
Aluminum Park
Steam Engine->
Smokin From Shootin->
Touch Me Part 2

Encore:
Bermuda Highway
Librarian
Wordless Chorus
It Beats 4 U
Dondante
The Bear
Lay Low
Run Thru
Anytime
One Big Holiday

If you wanna stream the entire show head here. I would like to give a shout out to Dave Vann for these photos. Nice work buddy.