[Photos courtesy of Pete Matthews for Feast of Music]
My Morning Jacket took their impressive stage show to Madison Square Garden last night, demonstrating again how a band that works hard, plays tight and writes compelling songs can achieve large-scale success without much in the way of conventional marketing. It had been a while since I last saw MMJ- I think my last check-in with them was some time in the last decade at Irving Plaza. Since then they’ve gone from a mid-tier band straddling the indie and jam-band divide to a full-fledged juggernaut, a latter-day Phish for the less-tie-dyed set. It’s easy to see how this band can both inspire the more jam-band-focused taper community as well as garner positive notice from sites like Pitchfork. While we are the only folks recording at most shows we attend, this night there were several other crews in attendance. It’s not hard to understand why – with sprawling solos, complex arrangements, and quiet solo moments, MMJ shows practically cry out for being recorded. If you’re going to be an arena band, you have to embrace it, and MMJ delivers a large-scale rock n’ roll party, with a light show that could hold its own with any band in America. The folks in the seats stood throughout the set, while the massive open floor was packed with hand-waving fans. The two-and-a-half hour set boasted many of the band’s big numbers, including a smoking “Mahgeetah”. The show closed with some true holiday cheer in the form of a faithful rendition of the Bing Crosby classic, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. The members of MMJ are no doubt looking forward to being home for Christmas themselves, as this show marked the end of their current tour.
I recorded this set in the raised seated section behind the soundboard area, in the center, with the Schoeps supercardiod microphones to reject unwanted sound. While not as good as the recordings we feature from smaller venues, it is a fine capture of the evening. Enjoy!
Stream “Off the Record”
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/M1412MMJ2011/15 Off the Record.mp3]
Stream “I’ll Be Home for Christmas [Bing Crosby]”
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/M1412MMJ2011/24 I’ll Be Home For Christmas.mp3]
Download the FLAC and MP3 files and stream the entire show on the Live Music Archive [HERE]
Follow acidjack on Twitter
Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request. Further, please note that this will be uploaded to the Live Music Archive after it has been up on this site for several days.
My Morning Jacket
2011-12-14
Madison Square Garden
New York, NY USA
Recorded by acidjack and Johnny Fried Chicken Boy for nyctaper.com
Produced by acidjack
Schoeps MK41 (DIN, DFC, behind SBD)>KCY>Naiant littlebox>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)>Audition (EQ, normalize, limit peaks)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks [Total Time: 2:28:48]
01 Victory Dance
02 Circuital
03 It Beats 4 U
04 First Light
05 I’m Amazed
06 Wonderful (The Way I Feel)*
07 Steam Engine
08 Outta My System
09 Dancefloors ^
10 Golden
11 Mahgeetah
12 Dondante
13 Smokin From Shootin
14 (end of) Run Thru>Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt.2
15 Off The Record
16 Gideon
17 [encore break]
18 Bermuda Highway
19 Wordless Chorus
20 The Day Is Coming
21 The Bottle (Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson) ** ^
22 Holdin On To Black Metal ^
23 One Big Holiday ^
24 I’ll Be Home For Christmas (Bing Crosby)
^ w/ Dearland Horns
* w/ Ben Bridwell
** w/ Brian Jackson
If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT My Morning Jacket, visit their website, and purchase their latest record, Circuital, directly from the band’s store [HERE]
Thanks so much! I was really hoping you guys were there to capture this one. Wonderful show.
thanks for putting this up. I flew from Seattle for this show and it was well worth it. amazing night.