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Concert Review: My Morning Jacket at Centennial Park in Atlanta

Music is back in Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta! No its not a resurrected On the Bricks crawling from the tomb a decade later. Some of the top touring bands of the summer have decided to give the Final Four revelers a side of music with their college basketball weekend. Dave Matthews Band, Sting, Muse and Ludacris were just a few of the bands on deck for the weekend, but the Big Dance Concert Series kicked things off in style Friday night with My Morning Jacket and Zac Brown Band.

For those who don’t count Atlanta as home, the Park sits at the north end of the downtown corridor that welcomes you to the CNN Center, Philips Arena, Georgia World Congress Center and the Georgia Dome. Back in the early 90s, it was little more than a collection of vacant lots and rundown industrial buildings before the city transformed the 21 acre eyesore into much needed green space for the 1996 Olympics. It was the site of the infamous Eric Rudolph bombing and the aforementioned On the Bricks free concert series that kept the youths busy during those sweltering summer months at the start of the new millennium.

Largely laying fallow as a lovely pass through park, it was high time the city of Atlanta got the heartbeat of this park racing again. Enter psychedelic rock quintet of My Morning Jacket. By happy coincidence, we managed to catch Jim James’ solo set a couple weeks back at Auditorium Shores as part of the South by Southwest festivities. We also caught up with the group last summer when they dazzled the crowd at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. Suddenly, Jim James has become Concert Tour’s most reviewed artist. Its not a stretch to say we like his vibe.

How many frontmen of rock come out on stage wearing a cape? I thought capes were the sole property of prog-rockers and magicians. I’m not sure which one Jim James aligns himself with, but far be it for me to question the man’s fashion sense. The big Circuital eye sat at the rear of the stage, staring out over the crowd, as the men took the stage. Logic would dictate they’d open with a cut off the 2011 work, right? Nope. They felt around in their cooler of songs for something nice and aged. Out came “Mahgeetah” as a treat to the long time fans who have fostered the band through the last decade.

The stage was setup at the end of the park complete with a catwalk that poked out into the audience. Jim James could fuel his inner diva whenever the moment struck him. He got the mileage out of his cape, strolling about the stage as it caught the wind like Batman. His unmanageable mane seemed to fly about his face in a way that would make Cousin It proud.

The faithful wouldn’t have to wait long before the band dug into Circuital. The title track and “Outta My System” coursed from the band’s guitars in a feverous pitch. Since Jim James has been touring of late on his new album Regions of Light and Sound of God, I’ve been giving the work heavy play time. It didn’t strike me how different the work was compared to his recordings with MMJ till seeing the band live again.

For those wondering what the band’s connection to the Final Four was, James spent his sliver of time talking at the mic touting his Louisville Cardinals. The only men’s and women’s teams to punch their ticket into the Final Four. You could tell he was proud as a peacock of his hometown ballers.

The band’s setlist sampled from Circuital and pulled heavily from the gems of Z (“Wordless Chorus”, “Off the Record”). They stretched out an hour and a half set with spacey jams and Jim James’ vocals showered in reverb. The crowd, that counted 75,000 strong by the time evening had arrived, swayed and bobbed with the mystic cowboy. The sunset settled over the beautiful Atlanta skyline as “First Light” and “Holdin On To Black Metal” bounced off the towering spires. Old fans shared their love with new fans who got a little more than they bargained for when they showed up early for Zac Brown Band.

Jim James is still deep in his tour supporting his new album so it appears as if this is destined to go down as a one off performance by My Morning Jacket. No word yet on any work being done on a new album so the fields must be laying fallow for the season. While you are waiting to see what new rock curiosities MMJ have in store, check out Jim James latest album. Its not a radical departure, but does have a very unique taste that fans of the group will savor.

As they holstered their guitars and bid their farewell to Atlanta, the final note marked the end of our evening. Zac Brown’s people kept our photographer from the stage so without pictures we’d only be telling you half the story of the evening. Plus, it wasn’t exactly pulling our arm to devote the whole feature to MMJ. They played a fantastic set as always so were very deserving of the extra dollop of love.

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My Morning Jacket Centennial Park Setlist
Atlanta, GA : April 5, 2013

Mahgeetah
Circuital
Outta My System
I’m Amazed
Off the Record
Lay Low
Victory Dance
First Light
Wordless Chorus
Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Part 2
Holdin On To Black Metal
Gideon
Anytime
One Big Holiday

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One Response
  1. Dude April 6, 2013 / Reply

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