To say that I’ve been looking forward to My Morning Jacket’s performance at the Charlottesville Pavilion would be an understatement. This was one show that I was psyched to see! I wasn’t living in Charlottesville at the time of the band’s last visit to town (at Starr Hill Music Hall in January of 2004) and to be honest this was my first time ever seeing My Morning Jacket perform live in person. (which is why I started my own My Morning Jacket Lobbying Committee in the first place)
Up to this point I had read all the press reports and I had all heard the first hand accounts about what a great live band My Morning Jacket is, but I needed to see it to believe it. Well, I’ve seen it and now I believe it. These guys are definitely worthy of the title of America’s Best Live Band. [concert recap, along with more photos and the full set list after the break]
[photo by Tom Daly]
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I’m not sure there’s anything I can really say to give this show its proper due. As I look through the set list it kinda stops me in my tracks. Understandably the show was filled with songs from the band’s latest album Evil Urges, but Jim James and crew also pulled out a number of classics from albums past, including “Evelyn is Not Real” and “I Think I’m Going to Hell” from the band’s debut Tennessee Fire as well as one of my all-time favorites “Phone Went West” from At Dawn. And to close out their six song encore with “Mahgeetah” and “One Big Holiday” (both from the band’s ATO debut It Still Moves) just sent the whole place into an uproar.
Billed as “Evening with My Morning Jacket”, Thursday’s Pavilion show featured no opening band in favor of showcasing the band’s full-on power and beauty in a three hour set that was focused entirely on giving fans what they wanted most: My Morning Jacket unleashed. Musically I’d have to say that these guys are one of the most cohesive groups of musicians I’ve ever seen live, ranking right up there with Wilco in terms of their ability to transform their recorded sound into live performance. But when My Morning Jacket lets it all hang out, I’m not sure that anyone compares. Drummer Patrick Hallahan pounded his kit like he was possessed with the spirit of Zeppelin’s John Bonham, Two Tone Tommy brilliantly anchored the beat on bass, and Carl Broemel on guitar was simply nothing short of amazing.
But of course it was frontman Jim James who clearly was the star of the show. With a rock n roll voice like no other, James delivered soaring screams of song. He bounced around the stage with boundless energy and whenever he stepped up to the front of the stage to look out over the audience he was greeted by a sea of outreached hands. There were even a couple points during the show when James put down his guitar and draped a cape over his shoulders, roaming the stage like some Count holding court over darkened night, as he stood and sang in backlit waves of smoke. The best frontmen are not only great singers but also great performers and no one understands that duality better than Jim James.
The crowd that came out to see My Morning Jacket on a beautiful September night in Charlottesville was clearly psyched, but I was surprised that there weren’t more people in attendance. I don’t know what kept them away, but I think they missed out on what was the best show I’ve seen at the Pavilion this summer. From the sound board forward all the way to the stage, the energy was high, the screams were loud, and both the band and the audience seemed to feed off of one another. By the time My Morning Jacket finished their set closing version of “Run Thru”, the frenzy was building. Six songs later, with the encore complete and the house lights back on, that frenzy crested into a mighty “Hell Yeah!”
[photos by Tom Daly]
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My Morning Jacket @ The Charlottesville Pavilion 09.04.08
Evil Urges
Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 1
Off The Record
Aluminum Park
The Way That He Sings
Thank You Too!
I’m Amazed
Evelyn Is Not Real
Master Plan
Sec Walkin’
Golden
Phone Went West
Librarian
I Think I’m Going To Hell
Dondante
Lay Low
Gideon
Anytime
Run Thru
Encore:
Wordless Chorus
Highly Suspicious
Smokin From Shootin
Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 2
Mahgeetah
One Big Holiday
Popularity: 26% [?]
Tagged as: charlottesville, Charlottesville Pavilion, concert, live music, My Morning Jacket
yeah this show was great. i didn’t even know i was a fan until last night. turns out i’m a huge fan.
me, too! it was an awesome show - i will see them again whenever i have the opportunity. they were one of the best bands i’ve ever seen live. their talent is amazing!
this was the first time i’ve gone to a concert at the pavillion, though, and i have to ask if it’s always such a social hour? we sat on the lawn and all the yakkers around us made it hard to hear the music sometimes! and not to sound crotchety, but we had to move 3 times because random frat boys kept wandering up and standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. lol!
/invisible
@2. i’m with you on seeing them anytime anywhere.
as for the yakkers…don’t get me started. i don’t think it’s limited just to shows at the pavilion or all shows at the pavilion for that matter, but it does exist.. when i saw emmylou harris at the pavilion back in june, i sat in the lawn for that show and there was little if any banter from the audience, they were all into the music…and the crowd was easily twice as large as the MMJ audience. always such a social hour? no. does it show up from time to time. most definitely. from all accounts, the feist show back in april at the pavilion sounds like it was social hour’s finest hour…if i may so inappropriately use the word finest.
As for why there weren’t more ppl there, $38 to get in (before any charges online or even in person @ the tourist center). A band I’d take a gamble on if it was the 9:30 and it was $20-$25, but to pay that money for a big outdoor show… admittedly, I’m not a fan, liked what I saw of them on television, but not for that kind of money at that venue.
So it’s a $38 ticket with a $5.50 service charge=43.50 at the Pavilion.
I thought I’d explore this too expensive idea so I checked out the ticket prices with service charges, venue fees, etc added in for the next 10 MMJ shows across the U.S. Here’s what I found:
Berkeley, CA–$48.70
L.A.–$45.15
San Diego–$44.30
Troutdale, OR–$42.90 (a savings of 60 cents)
Seattle–$44.15
Minneapolis–$45.50
Milwaukee–believe it or not, the cheapest ticket I could find started at $107!!!
Detroit–$42.25 ($1.25 savings)
Columbus, OH–$36.25 (the bargain of the bunch)
Iowa City–$40.05 ($3.45 savings)
So you could say that the metro areas of more expensive, which makes sense. Troutdale, while only about 13,000 people is just on the outskirts of Portland, with its half a million people. Columbus has a 3/4 million people, Iowa City has close to 70,000 folks not counting the University of Iowa population. Charlottesville is clearly the smallest city on the tour. With a smaller population to draw from you would expect tickets to be slightly more expensive. The face value of nearly all the tickets above were cheaper than the listed Pavilion price, but thankfully we don’t have to deal with Ticketmaster. But in the end with the exception of Columbus, tickets are generally 60 cents to $3.50 cheaper. (Service fees were generally double that of Musictoday’s) Is that enough to make the decision easier? In the end I guess you could drive to Columbus and tell me how much money you saved.
@Shaun Nice review. First time for me as well. In fact my review reads pretty similar to yours. Guess we have good taste in music.
http://wick.me/2008/09/09/my-morning-jacket-charlottesville-pavilion-thursday-september-4-2008/
Nice call Shaun…. yep, get the facts before forming an opinion.