Okay, so maybe I didn't take that picture, but that doesn't mean I wasn't there last night to enjoy My Morning Jacket pierce through some of their most majestic tracks at the Mann Center for Performing Arts. Playing for nearly three hours, the band transformed the Philly venue into an arcade game of psychedelic proportions.
The set was dominated by tracks from their three most recent albums. They opened with the trippy "Victory Dance," and played it straight into "Circuital." That was just the beginning of this vibrant invasion, and the whole band brought their a-game with them the ride. For "Off The Record" Jim James flew through the stage in his cape like some sort of rock n' roll superhero, while Patrick Hallahan brought a new meaning to the word groove for his drum-break during "Run Thru." But the highlight of the whole show was when Broemel whipped out the sax at the end of "Dondante" and let each note resonate all the way to the cheap seats and beyond.
It was almost an hour into the set that James decided to acknowledge the crowd, and of course the first thing he mentioned was the earth quake that had just hit the East Coast. "We're lucky to be alive," he said. "But it makes for one hell of a trip." Well he said something along those lines, but he couldn't have said anything more appropriate.
For the encore the band brought out Neko Case (from The New Pornographers) and covered Tom Petty's "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." It was Case's last night opening for the band on this tour so James handed her a bottle of champagne. "It's a bitter sweet night for us," he said. "We hate to see our dear friend go." She then shook the bottle and exploded it onto some lucky (or unlucky) fans in the first row.
The show ended on a high note with some unbelievable energy during "One Big Holiday." The band jumped around, while the crowd wouldn't let James sing a single word alone. It was everything you could expect from a My Morning Jacket show: great jams, great energy, great overall experience. What more could you ask for?
