My Morning Jacket is a band that is built on the foundation of powerful emotions. The band can be delicate, they can be fun, they can be goofy, and, at their best, they can rock you to your core. On December 31st, 2017, New Year’s Eve, the Jacket harnessed their various talents to deliver a seemingly perfect blend of classic original material and an eclectic mix of unexpected covers at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, CO. The result was a stunning musical showcase from one of the best live bands in the world.
After a guaranteed-to-make-you-dance opening set from iconic power-funk group Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe—which featured a funkified version of “Ain’t Wasting Time No More” by The Allman Brothers Band—Jim James and company emerged and launched into a triumphant take on the Circuital classic, “Victory Dance”. During this song, some pyrotechnic elements were revealed, the first of many surprises throughout the night. After three more classic songs–“Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 1”, “Evil Urges”, and “Compound Fracture”–the band invited up a horn section to help them with a fun take on “Dancing In The Dark” by Bruce Springsteen, the first of seven covers performed throughout the evening.
“Dancing In The Dark”
[Video:Â Eric Nelson]
Following a run through Jim James‘ solo single “A New Life”, My Morning Jacket turned in a high-octane one-two punch from their album The Waterful: “Spring (Among The Living)” and “Tropics”. The horns returned for a great version of “Holdin’ On To Black Metal”, and they stuck around for the band’s debut performance of “Magic Bullet”, a song originally released by the band in 2016 but never performed live until this show. The new song has a peace-driven message, making it a perfect fit for the show’s love-centric setlist.
After a quick take on the quirky “Highly Suspicious”, the band launched into an amazing sequence that took them from “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 2” through beloved rarity “Cobra”, “Miss You” by The Rolling Stones, the anthemic “Gideon”, and finally the rare and gorgeous”Bermuda Highway”, which wasn’t on the band’s original setlist, but was thrown in on a whim to match the gravitas of the moment. The incredible sequence, which went from disco to rock to folk and back again, served as the climax of the show, even if it was followed by a remarkable, set-closing version of beloved fan-favorite power ballad “Phone Went West”. The band used this sequence to show off an awesome rig of disco balls that they brought in for the occasion, with around 20 disco balls in total shining off each other and creating a unique effect that covered every inch of the venue and whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
“Miss You”
[Video:Â Hakim]
“Bermuda Highway”
[Video:Â Eric Nelson]
The band left the stage after announcing a short pre-midnight break, and a giant projector screen dropped from the sky and covered the entire stage. The band broadcast a ticking clock on the screen, with the clock counting down to zero, but sometimes veering into different directions, with the clock speeding up or slowing down in an attempt to disorient. Eventually, the clock reached zero, and a short video about equality played with quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When the projection screen dropped just after midnight, the band kicked into gear with “Wordless Chorus” as balloons flew around the room in front of them, with more pyrotechnics marking the moment.
“Wordless Chorus”
[Video:Â Eric Nelson]
While the encore contained some beloved original MMJ material–“Dancefloors”, “Lay Low”, and the show-closing “One Big Holiday”–it was the fun covers that the band selected for the post-midnight encore that really got the crowd going. Sly & The Family Stone‘s “Everyday People” was electric, as it was given the true MMJ treatment complete with spot-on musicianship and passionate vocals. The incredible back-to-back selection of “What The World Needs Now Is Love” by Burt Bacharach and All You Need Is Love by The Beatles made for a truly epic and love-filled NYE moment. The most surprising moment of the night came towards the end of the show when the Jacket offered up a sort of mashup of Sly’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf)” and “Rhythm Nation” by Janet Jackson.
My Morning Jacket is truly a force to be reckoned with, and their epic New Year’s Eve show showed off a band at the height of their powers. Jim James is a once-in-a-generation frontman, and Carl Broemel, Patrick Hallahan, and Tom Blankenship, and Bo Koster have crafted a deep musical bond that is rarely found in modern rock music; it is a true pleasure to watch this band perform, and they clearly enjoy performing for and creating special moments for their fans. On the eve of 2018, and the band’s self-imposed one-year hiatus (besides their already-announced destination event One Big Holiday in February), a standout, firing-on-all-cylinders performance like this one is almost bittersweet. However, not a soul in the room walked out of the 1stBank Center with any sort of negative feeling, as My Morning Jacket’s triumphant night of music left the audience in stunned bliss as they walked out of the venue and into 2018.
[Photo:Â Mitch Kline via My Morning Jacket’s Facebook page]