Whether he knows it or not, Jim James is a howling devil, funk god, space-alien rock star. The band he fronts, My Morning Jacket, has catapulted from fairly straight-forward Southern rockers to simply the best damn live band America has to offer. And in transition, the band has grown into its lead singer’s cosmic weirdness.
Wednesday night, MMJ brought its interstellar twang and hippie-metal to Washington’s DAR Constitution Hal. Donning a cape, James pranced, jumped and twirled across the stage. Early on, he confessed to the audience he was experiencing déjà vu, and had dreamed of playing in the exact spot where he stood.
“I was praying,” he told the crowd. “In the dream I was having déjà vu about having déjà vu.” From any other musician in any other band, the banter would have been totally disingenuous – a sound- bite moment structured to be just as spacey as it sounds. Maybe he did plan it. But from the band’s otherworldly palette and Technicolor-bright light-rigs, the concert certainly contained more than an echo of James’s dreamy evocations.
In more than 150 minutes of no-frills showmanship, MMJ proved every last bit of its worth to the weeknight audience. (James thanked the crowd several times during the course of the night.) The band has no musical limitations. Few groups working today can claim the one-two punch of James and Carl Broemel on guitar, a pair of axe-men as melodic and inventive as they are tenacious and unforgiving on the fret boards.
On the extended “Lay Low,” the two traded licks, calling to mind both Television and Lynyrd Skynyrd in the same breath. Blistering renditions of It Still Moves favorites “Run Thru” and “One Big Holiday” capped off the night. There could not have been a healthy eardrum left in the room.
The Kentucky boys play rough, but don’t let it fool you – at heart, James and company are big softies. “Golden,” an old favorite just as warm as its one-word title, cries out with winsome pedal steel. But Wednesday night, it was the new material leaving a hush over the crowd.
MMJ’s most recent album, Evil Urges, is chock full of blue-eyed soul. Against all odds, the song “Librarian” – on which the band sounds something like James Taylor attempting Dark Side of the Moon – emerged as one of the most cheered-on songs of the set. As any great live band, MMJ does a hell of a job selling its weaker material (“Sec Walkin,” “Two Halves,” “Thank You Too!”). It’s no surprise, though; the songs off MMJ’s strongest LP (Z) still make up the backbone of the set.
“Anytime” set the tone right from the beginning, although the high-energy standout lost some of its effect from the bad early-show mix. (The bottom-heavy sound problems continued throughout and gave the entire show a slightly murky feeling.) One of the highlights came as MMJ rolled out the set-ending epic “Steam Engine,” complete with a Broemel saxophone solo and a partial jam with the band’s rhythm section and keyboardist.
After a short encore break, James returned and prefaced “Wordless Chorus” and the night’s final stretch by vaguely addressing the upcoming presidential election. Paired with the forthcoming song, the banter came off thoughtful and apropos.
“2008, D.C.: It’s a good time to be alive,” James said. “I’m very excited for humanity. … We can all bring a little more peace and little more joy to everybody.”
It’s certainly a nice thought, but for now, outstanding rock concerts will have to do.
zherrm@umd.edu
RATING: 4 1?2 out of 5 stars
