By Samyukta Sarma
My Morning Jacket, Red Rocks Amphitheater (Samyukat Sarma/Radio 1190)
Red Rocks Amphitheater seemed to go back to the year 2007. The warm summer air felt thick, mixed with anticipation — and other substances. The crowd patiently waited for My Morning Jacket on Saturday, Aug. 16.
At around 9 p.m., five long-haired and mostly-bearded men took the stage to begin playing their music. My Morning Jacket performed two nights at Red Rocks as part of their US tour of their latest album, “is,” released March 21. This tour also marks the 20th anniversary of their 2005 album, “Z,” which the Aug. 15 show celebrated.
Lead singer and guitarist Jim James as well as drummer Patrick Hallahan notably set the tone with their high energy instrument playing, punchy singing and hair flinging. The first talk break followed, wherein Jim James — who is apparently called Yim Yames in some contexts — noted that the rocks make him feel like he’s in the matrix or on another planet, and that he feels a different energy while performing here.
During a later break, he shared an anecdote about a routine huddle the band does every time they perform at Red Rocks where they climb up in the rocks and pray to the spirits of the land. On both the nights at the amphitheater on this tour, the band noticed that there was a very strong smell of mac n cheese during the huddle. That night, after the venue staff warned them of raccoons in the area, the band finally found a pile of raccoon feces explaining the odor.
The performance was about two and a half hours long, but the band had energy the whole time. The 20-odd song setlist was so dynamic that the audience seemed to remain engaged as well. There were so many details that the audience seemed to have a hard time looking away. A giant sign appeared with neon lighting spelling out the word “LOVE” during the song “Love, Love, Love”; a bear that I had to look twice at to confirm wasn’t real was featured during “Mahgeetah”; and, of course, all of the band members constantly headbanged with the stage lights behind them c.
The middle part of the set gathered the most energy, with members of the crowd dancing freely, singing loudly and holding up “rock on” signs above others’ heads during songs like “Squid Ink” and “Touch me I’m Going to Scream, Pt. 2.” The highlight of the concert, at least for me personally, was the song “Holdin On To Black Metal,” during which the band brought out the lead singer from opening band Melt, Veronica Stewart-Frommer. During the opening set, her belting and jazzy vocals were captivating in their own right, so her addition to the headlining band was welcome. She and Jim James took turns singing the main and backup vocals to the song, both with strong voices, creating the most dynamic and high energy performance of the concert.
Of course, Melt needs its own moment to shine as well. Warming up the stage at around 7:45, Melt opened with their song “Fake Romantic.” With loud drums and strong vocals, their energy is exactly what was needed to amp up the crowd before the headliners took over. Surprisingly, after their set of high-energy, original songs, they closed with a soft cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon,” which the whole audience joined in for, establishing a sense of community before the main act had even come out.
Throughout the show, Jim James repeatedly thanked the land spirits and remarked on both the beauty of nature and the audience before him. Seeing the red rocks of Colorado as an additional source of inspiration and connection, that spirituality was carried over into the performance, which the band itself deemed special. Whether it really is magic in the red rocks of the amphitheater, the vibrance of the crowd or the overall nostalgia that came from the day before’s 20th anniversary celebration of album “Z,” there’s no doubt that My Morning Jacket delivered a performance almost as electrifying as the literal lightning that could be seen from miles away at the high elevation of the amphitheater.