My Morning Jacket - VH1 Storytellers

Post show set

Thursday night My Morning Jacket performed an incredibly intimate set for about 150 people at a tiny TV studio in New York City. The two hour set covered a range of songs, old and new, not unlike a regular concert, BUT on this occassion the inspiration for each song played was discussed moments before it began. The audience questions that were submitted with the contest entry were taped pre show so we did not get to see those answered, I like the mystery of that come air time though. It was truly excellent to watch Jim James almost squirm in front of the crowd during his explanations, more than once mentioning that they just want to play - not talk when on stage. As we all know Jim is a bit out there and his storytelling almost always started with a large far out concept that by the end he tightened up quite nicely, making sense of it all.

Pre show line and the VH1 control bus (Pretty sure that's what it was)

The new record (which is apparently going to be called Circuital, watch the video below. NOT from Storytellers) is going to be massively beautiful if the new songs were any indication. We've had "Circuital" and "Wonderful (The Way I feel)" (which, in my mind, is one of the most stunning songs ever) for a while now but "Moving On" (Not 100% on the title) was completely new and fresh and we got to hear it twice due to some difficulties VH1 had with the audio. The song sounded fine to us, it was their recording setup. Regardless, we got to hear it again near the end. Jim made a pretty funny joke on playing the same song twice - "It's like you tell a funny joke then the people say "Now tell us that same joke again!"" Jim was pretty on fire with the gut busters (don't let my lousy interpertation do it justice!).

I wrote this in a New York cafe, watching people shuffle through the rain and listening to "The Okonokos Project." I can't help but feel an overwhelming joy after a night like that and listening to the guys from the band with the most positive energy on this planet brings that back. I've said it before and I'll say it again - no band on this planet makes me "feel" like My Morning Jacket makes me feel.

I'd go into further detail about Jim's explanations but I'm going to keep that mystery to be unveiled when the show airs on June 3rd.

Wordless Chorus

The Way That He Sings

Golden

Circuital

Moving Away (?)

Dondante

Gideon

Smokin' From Shootin'

Moving Away (?) (Played twice due to studio difficulties)

28 Second Song (Shell Silverstein Cover. Literally 28 seconds long)

Lullabies, Legends and Lies (Shell Silverstein Cover)

One Big Holiday