“It’s an honor and a privilege to be here again,” Jim James said while briefly addressing the sold-out crowd at the Auditorium Theatre Friday night. “We’re so grateful to be here and share this with you all.” Jim, on behalf of literally every My Morning Jacket fan on the planet, allow me to say, “SAME!” It’s felt like an eternity since My Morning Jacket last toured, so to have a three-night run in Chicago with a unique setlist every night was like Christmas come early.
I haven’t felt such collective joy in a very long time. It was the kind of joy that literally fills every inch of space; an energy so ecstatic that it’s hard to believe the venue can contain it. The ultimate concert energy. I spent the entire show reveling in it. Aside from hearing older favorites (“I Think I’m Going to Hell,” “Mahgeetah”), it was exciting to hear some newer songs played for the first time. It’s thrilling to see how tracks from MMJ’s 2021 self-titled album, as well as 2020’s surprise The Waterfall II, translate to the stage.
My Morning Jacket’s tour concludes with another three-night run in Denver, culminating in what’s sure to be an epic NYE show. A few tickets are still available for their destination festival in Mexico—appropriately coined “One Big Holiday”—in March. And if you can’t head south of the border, look for them to be rather involved in the festival circuit in ’22.
SETLIST
Victory Dance
It Beats 4 U
Love Love Love
Magic Bullet
Lay Low
Lowdown
Master Plan
Complex
Bermuda Highway
If All Else Fails (Tour debut)
I Think I’m Going to Hell (Tour debut)
Compound Fracture
Easy Morning Rebel (Tour debut)
Dondante
Never In The Real World
Mahgeetah
Heartbreakin Man
Rollin Back (Tour debut)
Holdin On to Black Metal
Phone Went West
