Friday, April 25th, marked a return home for My Morning Jacket to their hometown of Louisville, KY. MMJ was set to play a round of homecoming shows in 2022 but were forced to cancel due to illness. Since 2016, they have only played twice in Louisville, both at larger shows: the KFC YUM Center in 2023 and the Bourbon and Beyond Festival in 2023.
Earlier this year, they announced three shows at The Palace Theatre, dubbed ‘Come Home Again’. After the first three weekend dates sold out, they added two shows. Jim James said, ‘When we realized we had never done a five-night run before in our hometown, we decided that it would be great to make it one big celebration of Louisville, KY…”. Since the band’s inception in 1998, the 2800-seat Palace Theatre, which opened its doors in 1928, has hosted several notable MMJ shows, including a Thanksgiving Eve show in 2005, which became a yearly tradition in the early 2000s. Excitement built quickly this year as fans patiently waited for their return to one of the city’s premier venues.
The Palace was buzzing as fans eagerly stood in their seats before the band hit the stage at 8:50 PM on Friday night. The MC from 91.7 WFPK asked the crowd when they had last seen the band, saying, “Who hasn’t seen them since ‘Z’, who hasn’t seen them since ‘Evil Urges?” Sporadic hoots and hollers filled the room from fans old and new alike.
As the room went dark and Jacket took the stage, they fittingly opened with a song called “Back Home Again,” which was short, sweet, and to the point, and was met with a fiery round of applause. Moments later, as drummer Patrick Hallahan customarily raised his sticks toward the heavens, they dropped into “Off The Record,” the lead single from their 2005 release, Z.
The show’s tempo matched the energy of the audience as the Friday evening heat swelled. The heavily Kentucky-based crowd sweated and rocked as the band played through a handful of new and old songs early in the set, most notably “Evelyn Is Not Real” from The Tennessee Fire. You could tell that long-time Jacket fans welcome any new renditions of old songs from their debut album.
Bassist Tom Blanketship laid down a slow bass rhythm as the band trudged forward with “Picture of You.” The pace and energy of the show indicated the direction the band would be headed throughout the evening and the run.
An ethereal “Steam Engine” led into an even more steamy cover of the Top Gun hit song, “Take My Breath Away,” with local musician and opener Lacey Guthrie assisting Jim on vocals. They rounded out the set with a couple more covers, Traffic’s “Feelin’ Alright” and Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move.”
As one would expect on a five-night run, it’s important to pace yourself. What started slow and steady briefly reloaded as Jim serenaded the crowd during the encore with tour debut, “Librarian,” before barreling through “Tropics (Erase Traces),” “The Way That He Sings,” and finally blowing the roof off the Palace as Jim and guitarist Carl Broemel kicked off their crescendo of guitars and dug into “One Big Holiday.”
The boys were back, and this ripper of an opening night show set the tone for the remainder of this three-day weekend. With five shows on the docket and no repeats, the Louisville run was the perfect time to let both the classics and those seldom sung poke their heads up at any given time. What a treat!
