My Morning Jacket - Meadow Brook Music, Rochester Hills, 16/8/2011

  by Carl Bookstein

published: 28 / 8 / 2011

intro

Carl Bookstein watches Louisville, Kentucky-based alternative rock outfit My Morning Jacket play an earthy set at the outdoor venue of Meadow Brook Music Festival in Michigan

My Morning Jacket’s latest album 'Circuital' oozes earthiness and good vibrations. In their six album history, My Morning Jacket has travelled from jam band to alternative innovators and back again- their road being a self described 'Circuital'. Hailing from Louisville, Kentucky, My Morning Jacket features the talented singer songwriter and band leader Jim James. James possesses a voice that is instantly soothing and soulful. Such top flight James compositions from past albums include the beautiful tracks 'Golden' and 'Gideon' as well as the over the top 'One Big Holiday'. The album 'Circuital' follows suit, starting on strong footing with the positive anthem 'Victory Dance'. My Morning Jacket seems a band well aware of the fact that they are breaking through to the next level. It is a gorgeous mid-August Michigan night at the idyllic outdoor venue Meadow Brook Music Festival- temperature in the high seventies. Neko Case is the fine warm up act, playing songs drawn off her albums including material from 'Fox Confessor Brings the Flood' and 'Middle Cyclone'. Her voice hits the note- smooth and down to earth. The song 'This Tornado Loves You' is an absolute highlight. With lights flashing, the audience hears the drone of all encompassing sound. Jim James sings the lyric “I’m flying up above” as he sways in a groove with the opening number 'Victory Dance'. The band My Morning Jacket rocks with a larger than life jamming abandon as they cruise into the new album title track 'Circuital'. James’voice is powerful and in tune with the band’s instrumentals charging on all cylinders. The 'You Wanna Freak Out' lyric is wise: “How you react is what you get back.” My Morning Jacket puts forth a vibrant performance of the hit 'I’m Amazed' with visuals of evergreens, mountains and sky on video screens in the back drop. 'Wonderful (The Way I Feel)', with its hippie ideal ethos, describes going to a place without police, suffering or disease. Meanwhile a symbiotic musical flow is achieved through true instrumental alchemy. As the show progresses, the stage lights shine in Technicolor as we hear a guitar based rock assault complete with a saxophone solo. 'Gideon' is propulsive, building to a fever pitch- one of the concert’s finest moments. The encore includes 'Holdin’ On To Black Metal' and the memorable finale 'One Big Holiday'- all in all, the show was a summer highlight to be sure.

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