My Morning Jacket, LC Pavilion, Columbus, OH - 5/2/2010

It was looking like it would be a wet, heavy storms kind of night, and I'd been excited about this show for months.  Anyone who reads this knows I've been a pretty big fan of MMJ since 2003-2004, but they are a very different band than they were then - not worse per se, just different.  I fell in love with the high lonesome Neil Young folky Southern rock that they put out back in the At Dawn and It Still Moves era, and this is still my favorite stuff of theirs, but I can (and, to some extent, have learned to) appreciate their later output on its own merits.  I'd even say that Evil Urges has, shockingly, aged quite well for me.

The weather held out, thankfully, and it turned into an overcast, cool evening - kind of perfect, really.  We got in just as the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was ending their set.  It sounded fine and like a nice intro (and typically kooky one) to MMJ.

They came out a little after 8 PM with both guns blazing (see toy guns on Jim James' hips above) and, as is typical of them, sounded great.  The shaggy dog awesome-ness that they once projected has been replaced by a bit more professional sheen than I care for, but like I said, I've come to appreciate their current sound on its own.  A couple of new songs/covers were thrown in, but this was very similar to the last time I saw them (at this same venue, in fact).  The encore with the horn section was awesome, and some of these songs will always give me goosebumps ("Golden," "The Way That He Sings," "Lay Low").

And that was a pretty awesome 5-song opening run ... I mean, damn ...

On - 8:15

One Big Holiday
Off The Record
Gideon
I'm Amazed
Mahgeetah
Tonight I Want to Celebrate with You
Golden
Where to Begin
Lay Low
The Way That He Sings
Wonderful (The Way That I Feel)
Carried Away (new song, Carl singing lead)
Don Dante
Smokin' from Shootin'-> end of Run Thru
Touch Me I'm Going to Scream
Anytime

Wordless
Evil Urges w PHJB
Highly Suspicious w PHJB
Carnival Time w PHJB
Dancefloors w PHJB (!!!!)
Move On Up w PHJB

Off - 10:35