This year marked the 20th anniversary of My Morning Jacket releasing their debut album The Tennessee Fire. It’s amazing to think about how much the band has accomplished since then in their rise to one of the modern rock mainstays of our time, and arguably one of the very best live shows that you’ll see today.
The band announced only a handful of U.S. tour dates for this entire year, with two nights at Red Rocks, one at Forest Hills (where we last saw them perform two years ago) and a special night beforehand up in Port Chester, New York at the historic room that is The Capitol Theatre. The show would be a celebration of the 20th anniversary of The Tennessee Fire, which the band would play in its entirety, along with other rarities of that era.
Being a special one-night event, the show quickly sold out and became a must-see for devotees of the band, who have one of the most passionate live followings around. We were eager to see how the night would unfold, as the first album understandably has a much different sound than the one that My Morning Jacket has evolved into over the past decade and change. But it became immediately clear through the opening trio of “Heartbreakin Man,” “They Ran,” and “The Bear,” that the band struck a perfect balance between staying true to the heart and soul of the original blueprints while also adapting them to fit the current incarnation of the band. Yet, songs like “It’s About Twilight Now” and “The Dark” sounded totally readymade for this era of the band and absolutely floored me and the rest of the capacity audience at the level that they rocked throughout the core of The Cap.
Jim James talked about some memories of the recording of the era and how the album came out before the world went “Y2Crazy,” while also reflecting and wondering who was the person that wrote these songs back then. The band seemed to be having fun playing a lot of these tracks, most of which don’t get a chance to get played all that often, especially not with other tracks from the album. Following the album, the band returned for a 4-song encore which began with a cover of Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” as well as rarer MMJ songs “Weeks Go by Like Days,” their cover of Erykah Badu’s “Tyone,” and “Tonite I Want to Celebrate With You.”
Jacket will play a much bigger show tonight at Forest Hills Stadium which will see them play what is most likely a more standard setlist that while still great, isn’t quite the same as seeing them in a room like The Cap and see them play their debut album, something that will likely never happen again. We felt lucky to be there and experience what has been one of the best shows of the year so far.
Find a full gallery of photos from their performance at The Capitol Theatre below, along with the setlist.
My Morning Jacket setlist:
[The Tennessee Fire]
1. Heartbreakin Man
2. They Ran
3. The Bear
4. Nashville to Kentucky
5. Old Sept. Blues
6. If All Else Fails
7. It’s About Twilight Now
8. Evelyn Is Not Real
9. War Begun
10. Picture of You
11. I Will Be There When You Die
12. The Dark
13. By My Car
14. Butch Cassidy
15. I Think I’m Going to Hell
Encore:
16. Rocket Man (Elton John cover)
17. Weeks Go by Like Days
18. Tyrone (Erykah Badu cover)
19. Tonite I Want to Celebrate With You
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