SANTA BARBARA BOWL
Louisville’s legendary live band, My Morning Jacket, returned to the Santa Barbara Bowl on Sunday, October 11. Some things just never seem to change. The band took the stage with its leader, Jim James, in his signature all-black cape, suit and sunglasses, with a majority of the band still sporting hectares of hair while bookended on-stage by their trademark bear totems. Change is inevitable, however, and thankfully, My Morning Jacket is busy evolving, with their latest album, The Waterfall, being one of their most adventurous yet.
Following a crowd-pleasing opening set by the criminally under-appreciated Fruit Bats, My Morning Jacket took over the Bowl and its packed pit, and for two-plus hours challenged the diverse audience to evolve with them. While they began with “deep-cut” Steam Engine and would perform many of their signature songs, MMJ’s set was heavily laced with new songs (seven off the new album, The Waterfall). The audience naturally roared its approval for the band’s older songs, but the new songs were also well-received and will likely become standards of MMJ’s sets for years to come.
Prime examples of the new songs were the thought-provoking Believe (Nobody Knows) and the healing Compound Fracture. James’ voice sounded a bit ragged to start, but on these and subsequent songs his unforgettable voice took flight and his ghost-falsetto shone bright. Band members Carl Broemel (guitar, pedal steel, sax), Pat Callahan (drums), Tom Blankenship (bass) and Bo Coster (keys) played superbly throughout, interlacing famously with James on guitar, omnichord and electro-necklace.
After these new songs, MMJ won over the crowd with fan-favorites Gideon, Golden (featuring Broemel’s subtly-beautiful pedal steel coloratura) and Mahgeetah. As it always does, Mahgeetah and its stadium-screams brought the crowd to full boil. The band then segued into the funk/soul-psychedelia of new songs Spring (Among The Living), Only Memories Remain and Tropics (Erase Traces). Spring was a highlight that worked well despite its seemingly unworkable mix of Radiohead, James Brown-funk and stadium-rock sounds. Another highlight was Only Memories Remain on which James manages to vocally channel the great Marvin Gaye. MMJ closed out their main set with the first of several reggae/dub-influenced songs, Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Part 2. With a black towel draped over his locks and electro-necklace, James looked like a rock ‘n roll Obi One Kenobi during Touch Me as he ranged across the entire audience’s front row, seemingly anointing each with special powers via the touch of forefingers. After a closing jam, the members disappeared one-by-one from the stage while a looped tune played on.
MMJ soon reappeared for an enthralling reggae/dub-influenced encore featuring Victory Dance, Wordless Chorus (the crowd singing loudly in unison), Off the Record (replete with Jamaican yellow and green lighting effects) and their standard show-closing anthem, One Big Holiday.
Neither James nor the band said a single word to the Bowl audience the entire evening, but all left touched by their musical powers, whether literally or figuratively.
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