CONCERT REVIEW: My Morning Jacket (Cleveland, OH; 10.09.24)

My Morning Jacket at Cain Park on Friday night (10.09.24) was no doubt not only the best concert I’ve seen this year, but one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen, full stop. (I will get that out of the way right off the bat because I don’t know how else to start.)

Diving right in:

I get distracted at some point during every concert I go to, and my mind wanders. I have a short attention span, and I’m naturally restless, so I tend to get antsy sitting or standing still for too long. I can only assume that, literally, everyone goes through this to some degree at concerts. It’s a part of the human condition. There are moments when I think about life in general or the mundane things that I should be getting done. Sometimes, I’ll just look around and think about the existential weirdness of concerts in general, the fact that we gather in the thousands just to watch people play a song. I try not to, and it’s by no means the entire show, but it does happen every time, in some form or another.

Except it didn’t happen this time. I was immersed for the entirety of the set, and it was a decently long set, clocking in at over two hours. There were lots of moments where it usually would have happened, like long jam sessions during ten-minute songs, but I was so enraptured that I was there for all of it. MMJ was able to plant me in the subconscious plane of their own making, which is where they seem to operate. I suppose that’s the point of the live show, in general, to elicit an emotion and get one out of one’s head, but MMJ did it the entire time.

I think part of this immersion comes from the fact that, whether you know all the songs or none of the songs, you’ll still enjoy an MMJ performance. The face-melting riffs, the angelic voice of lead singer Jim James, the one-handed guitar solos, the reverberated epicness, watching James reach out like he’s summoning the audience, the band’s tightness, all of it. I can’t explain it, but it seemed like the band was totally present during their performance. Maybe it’s because it was the last night of their tour, or maybe it was the semi-intimate venue, or because the keyboardist is from Cleveland? I don’t know, but you could really feel it.

They started with the endlessly catchy “Off the Record,” starting very quiet and eerie before building to the song. Then, on “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream, Pt. 1,” James wheeled out a cart with a synthesizer on it to get even more ethereal, pausing every so often to close his eyes and reach to the sky. That was followed by the extended jam session of “Touch me I’m Going to Scream, Pt. 2.” Looking at their previous set lists, they do change every night, and I couldn’t find one where they played both of these songs in succession like that, but hearing those two songs back to back smacked you right in the face with pure rock rapture. We were in for a crazy night.

The light show was also fantastic, which I’ve come to learn is an MMJ staple. But I’d call the stage production otherwise minimal. The stage itself was decently wide, but other than the lights, it was mostly just the band. James would move across the stage in not what I would call a strut, more of a confident trance, if such a thing can exist. From one side to the other he’d go in his white linen suit, reaching out, beckoning to the crowd, or lifting his hands into the air.

They also played their recently released single, the Brian Wilsonesque plea for unity, “Aren’t We One,” which I’d been listening to quite a bit leading up to the show. Shortly after that they played “Spring (Among The Living),” where James showcased his high pitched vocal range, letting out these long, primal yelps of joy. In one of many moments of fun throughout the show, he changed the lyrics to “I didn’t think I’d make it, to get back to Cleveland, OH. Historic home of Bo Koster, now.” Bo is the keyboardist who was born in Cleveland, who, by the way, really shined, especially on songs like “Circuital.” Speaking of shining, Carl Broemel playing steel guitar on several songs, like “Least Expected,” was always a welcome addition.

I’ll admit, MMJ has always been a band in my periphery. I knew some of the more popular songs like “One Big Holiday,” (which they also played), a song that help put them on the map back in 2002. Because of that, a couple of songs from their earlier albums, and that they always seemed to be at festivals, I always kind of lumped them in a bit with the Alt-Country scene, dare I say it. After seeing them live, I can say they definitely aren’t that, as much as I actually really like the alt-country genre. They’re their own thing, though. They’re like this unique entity, but while also maintaining a realness about them; a realness that makes you believe your own band might actually make it big someday. They’re simultaneously universal and singular at the same time.

They closed with a five-song encore that included a cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon,” a song perfectly suited for James’ vocals. Before that they played “Wonderful (The Way I Feel),” which started with James playing acoustic guitar in a spotlight and had the rest of the band come in throughout the song in a way that was very effective.  

There’s so much more to say, but I’ll just close with it; after seeing this show, it’s truly astonishing to me that they aren’t selling out arenas. The force of the band and Jim James’ vocals is something everyone should witness. Maybe the show I was at was a fluke, but I doubt it. I think that’s how they always are. I know I’ll find out, because I’m now going to see them every chance I get.