My Morning Jacket’s performance at Boston’s Roadrunner on October 24th showcased a quintet not just rejuvenated but in peak form. Between their carefully crafted setlist, obvious enthusiasm, and improved musicianship, they put their right foot forward in a way that gave their audience the impression that their best live shows have yet to come.
Enough has been written about how dangerously close My Morning Jacket came to breaking up during the indefinite hiatus they launched following their 2017 New Year’s Eve run outside of Denver. In the years leading up to that hiatus, things felt stale and while they’ve been back and performing for some time now, with every tour that passes, the shows are getting better and better.
Opening their show with both “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Part 1” and “Touch Me Part 2” was an out-of-the-gate fan service that you don’t have to be a super fan to appreciate. Another early set highlight was their performance of “In Color,” off their 2021 self-titled release. It’s a spacey tune with a lot of potential for improvisation that they’re continuing to grow into. Frontman Jim James and lead guitarist Carl Broemel were both pounding away on their guitars Bigsby tremolo arm during their duel solos and James took the vibrato to the next level by going hard on his Wah-Wah pedal as well. Some nights, keyboardist Bo Koster might be the MVP, or maybe between bassist Tom Blankenship and drummer Patrick Hallahan, it’s the rhythm section that shines the brightest. But at Roadrunner, the show was all about the band’s two guitarists playing their fingertips off.
During a jam in between “Run It” and “Regularly Scheduled Programming,” James showed off his improved tapping technique on his guitar’s fretboard. While he’s far from being able to cover Van Halen’s “Eruption,” his tapping is a newer method he’s been working on since their return from the hiatus and he continues to make considerable gains in a guitar technique that requires extraordinary accuracy. When he sang out, “Now back to regularly scheduled programming,” he had a playful way of singing out the lyrics that really spoke to the joy he was having on stage and it was contagious.
During “Thank You Too!” they brought out the opening act Madi Diaz to join James on vocals. Her harmonies on the chorus were welcomed but unfortunately, James has a history of not wanting to give up a verse on his songs when welcoming a guest vocalist and this wasn’t an exception.
Closing the proper set with “Gideon” is always a good play and although he isn’t able to belt out the song’s climactic howl like he used to, a moment deserving of a place on the Mount Rushmore of rock n roll screams, he’s adapted his performance to his vocal abilities 18 years after its release and the song still packs a powerful punch.
As we watch the band evolve in the time since they returned from self-imposed exile, their continued growth has mirrored that of Phish in their 3.0 era in many ways. That they are happier and healthier has made their live show that much better and it seems like as time goes on, they continue building on those gains. And while the new material they’re putting out these days doesn’t really stand up as well to their ’03-’08 output, their fans are welcoming these songs with open arms and the band is incorporating them into their live catalog seamlessly.
Without question, their set at Roadrunner was better than last Falls performance in Boston and the same can be said of their 2015 headlining performance at Boston Calling. It’s premature to say whether or not this concert beats out their two-night run at Boston’s Orpheum Theatre in support of 2015’s The Waterfall, but either way, this was clearly one of their best sets in the Bay State since their 2012 New Year’s Eve performance at Boston University. A gambling man would be wise to bet on their next stop in town being even better.
