Concert Review: My Morning Jacket's Live Reputation Endures at Sold-Out Cain Park Show

My Morning Jacket, over the more than two decades it has been together, has learned one thing incredibly well: how to transform compelling studio recordings into something even better live.

Onstage, the Louisville, Kentucky-hailing, psychedelic-alternative country-indie-rock-etc. band’s grooves get looser, the drums get heavier, the solos get longer and the crescendos get louder. Throwing in a first-class light show also helps.

That mastery was on display Friday night at the band’s sold-out concert at Cleveland Heights’ Cain Park (or, if you go by what was erroneously printed on the posters sold at the merch table, Calvin Park). Over 125 minutes and 19 songs, the quintet showed why its reputation as one of rock’s finest live acts endures.

My Morning Jacket last made an appearance in the Cleveland area in 2022 at a show at Jacobs Pavilion. Then, the band battled the summer heat while also showing off its latest self-titled album, and this reviewer noted that its energy appeared to wane by the end.

Not so on Friday night, even if the band was a bit shaggy at times (especially the voice of leader Jim James, though he ably handled most of the high notes), something that no doubt came from the touring the band undertook this summer. The show was the end of a run that began last month, during which the band co-headlined most concerts with Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats. It also threw in a few headlining dates of its own.


Shaggy or not, songs like “Off the Record,” “Lay Low” and “O Is the One That Is Real” powerfully emanated across the amphitheater and onto the lawn to the fervent crowd. So did “One Big Holiday,” “Anytime” and others.

James, when he wasn’t strumming or shredding on guitar, glided across the stage, though props go to each member for different reasons. Some standout moments came from guitarist Carl Broemel and keyboardist (and Lakewood native) Bo Koster. The former’s work on the pedal steel elevated encore opener “Wonderful (The Way I Feel), while Koster’s keyboards were featured in “Least Expected” and main set closer “Circuital.”

The real treat, however, was a faithful cover during the encore of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon.” The quintet’s interplay was, like on so many other songs, exquisite, elevating a familiar tune into something even more special.

Jade Bird opened the night with a quick set of feisty folk music. The singer/songwriter had the unenviable task of trying on her own to sing over those still filing into Cain Park, and others who preferred to talk with fellow concertgoers. Those who were paying attention, though, heard strong originals that fit well alongside covers of Son House’s “Grinnin’ in Your Face” and Big Star’s “Thirteen.”

Setlist:
1. Off the Record
2. Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 1
3. Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2
4. Holdin on to Black Metal
5. War Begun
6. Aren’t We One?
7. Least Expected
8. Spring (Among the Living)
9. O Is the One That Is Real
10. One Big Holiday
11. It Beats 4 U
12. Gideon
13. Lay Low
14. Circuital
Encore:
15. Wonderful (The Way I Feel)
16. Harvest Moon (Neil Young cover)
17. State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U.) (Jim James song)
18. Mahgeetah
19. Anytime

Eric Heisig is a freelance writer in Cleveland. He can be reached at [email protected].

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed