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| My Morning Jacket @ the Greek Theatre (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
My Morning Jacket gave an exhilarating and rousing performance full of extended jams at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on Saturday night. Finishing off a two-night double headliner bill with Fleet Foxes, MMJ took the closing spot on Saturday and delivered a 15-song masterpiece that demonstrated the team camaraderie of the collective band and musical virtuosity of each of the players. Their 100-minute set included no songs repeated from Friday night’s show.
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| My Morning Jacket's Jim James @ the Greek Theatre (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Lead Singer / Guitarist Jim James and crew came roaring out of the gate with “Dancefloors” a song that built momentum throughout and gave each of the band members a chance to shine while also displaying the brotherhood of the musicians. As drummer Patrick Hallahan kicked things off with his thunderous drumming and Tom Blankenship laid down booming bass rhythm, Bo Koster’s keyboards weaved a nice fabric for a wailing solo from guitarist Carl Broemel and then a bluesy audience-teasing solo from James. The lineup has been together since 2004 and the nearly two decades sharing the stage has created a band chemistry that is obvious in every shared look and the frequent comings together on stage. They play and smile like brothers up on stage.
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| My Morning Jacket @ the Greek Theatre (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
As the first song came to a bombastic conclusion, James set aside his guitar to prowl the stage back and forth as he sang the haunting and drifting “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream, Pt. 1” while connecting with audience members on each side of the stage. James has a legendary ability to scan the audience and he ranged back and forth throughout the night, making eye contact that seemed to connect with every attendee near the front. His wild gestures and poses - often reaching out to the crowd - drew in a connection with even the highest reaches of the Greek with the upper lawn filled with the sold-out crowd.
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| My Morning Jacket @ the Greek Theatre (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The guitar came back on as James began “Spring (Among the Living)” with his howl and then Koster’s slamming on the piano keys delivered a fast pace before the song shifted into a groove, dance beat. A long, jam-fueled feel-good “Never in The Real World” followed – starting with James on guitar softly singing while Hallahan provided a light drum background before making sudden turns into bombastic moments that had the crowd dancing and swinging and filing the aisles. James brought forth one of the night’s most ripping solos – filled with feedback and echo as the band laid down a steady and calm beat behind his controlled-anarchy. “Slow Slow Tune” was just that – given lots of space to explore the song’s space and Broemel laid into shrieking solos that elicited roars from the crowd enjoying a warm, summer evening of t-shirt weather in the Berkeley hills.
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| My Morning Jacket @ the Greek Theatre (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
James’ strapped on his acoustic guitar for “Golden” a tune that embraced the vibe of his Kentucky upbringing and delivered fine chorus harmonizing with James and Koster while Broemel provided a rich layer of pedal steel and Hallahan kept a road trip beat lightly on the drums. A gigantic version of “Victory Dance” followed with James’s “Yelping” call intro and prowling of the stage accompanied by Koster’s keyboards. James donned his vocal effects box around his neck (for those familiar with this: he did not wear the cape that often accompanied it in the past and gave him a bit of a Darth Vader look). With “Victory Dance,” the light show transitioned from terrific to awe-inspiring. MMJ has been known for excellent light shows for years, but Saturday night’s show took it to new levels – leveraging spotlights, lasers and even a disco ball to make every song with a visual feast. Last summer’s Frost Amphitheatre show saw them doing much of the show in daylight, so their closing spot on this bill gave them the entire set to deliver memorable lighting.
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| Robin Pecknold & Jim James @ the Greek Theatre (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“Evil Urges” was up next and once again got the crowd participating raising their arms and singing along as James went into his high falsetto and Blankenship’s bass stood out. “Lay Low” followed with the song providing both guitarist’s chances for big soloes and extended jamming among the three string players. Next, Robin Pecknold, lead singer of Fleet Foxes was welcomed to the stage (earlier James had appeared with Fleet Foxes to cover Buffalo Springfield’s “Expecting to Fly”). Pecknold and James performed a marvelous acoustic cover of Neil Young’s “Comes a Time” that finished with Pecknold taking a knee to salute James and James doing the same for Pecknold before the two embraced in a hug.
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| My Morning Jacket @ the Greek Theatre (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
“Dondante” which followed the guest appearance had James biggest solo of the night – starting bluesy and then methodically moving higher and higher up the neck until the song exploded with strobes and thousands of colorful points of light filled the back wall of the theater and out into the crowd as James unleashed into a long and memorable solo at the front right of the stage before returning to his mates in the middle to bring the song to a close. “It’s About Twilight Now” was a rocker that brought the disco ball’s glory forward to engulf the whole Greek crowd. It ended with James, Broemel and Blankenship gathered in front of Hallahan as he bashed the ending of the song into oblivion after James last guttural howls had finished the vocals.
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| My Morning Jacket @ the Greek Theatre (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The distinctive 70’s sounding guitar intro to “Off the Record” saw the crowd erupt as the song drove a big shift in momentum as the crowd and band picked up speed as they headed toward the 11 pm curfew. The song was a rollicking sing-along with its island-style rhythms blending with rock-forward guitars. It featured several false finishes before Hallahan brought it into the barn. With no time for encore pauses on this night, James signaled his crew to wheel out his 80’s synthesizer as he started “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2” and the crowd cheered his every bang on the instrument at the start of the song. He worked the crowd on the mic for the first part of the song, before strapping on a guitar and ripping a devastating solo. The night came to a close with “Wordless Chorus” and James calling for all the lights to be turned off and only the crowd’s cell phones to light the Greek at the start of the song. After a quiet, whispering intro, the lights switched to high with the disco ball again in play and the band kicking in their full sound. The crowd roared when James defiantly sang “WE are the innovators. THEY are the imitators!” “We love the Bay Area! Be good and take care of each other,” James told the crowd as they finished right at 11 pm.
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| Fleet Foxes & Jim James of My Morning Jacket @ the Greek Theatre (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Fleet Foxes brought their luxurious-layered harmonies and indie folk to the daylight opening slot with a hits-filled set that featured excellent versions of song, including “Mykonos,” “Blue Ridge Mountains,” ”White Winter Hymnal” and “Can I Believe You.” In addition to James’ guest appearance, Nigerian-born singer-songwriter Uwade joined Fleet Foxes for “Wading in Waist-High Water” and “Going-to-the-Sun Road”.
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