My Morning Jacket re-opens Portland's State Theatre

Last Friday My Morning Jacket was the first band to play the newly renovated State Theatre in Portland, ME. I never went to the old theatre but this place is pretty cool. It reminds me of a cross between Lupos in PVD and The Flynn theatre in Burlington. An old theatre with an open dance floor and a small balcony set pretty far back in the room. Portland is always a good time for me b/c I have a bunch of college buddies that live there. I drove up on Friday, pregamed at a buddies and a crew of 7-8 of us headed downtown.

The band hit around 8pm and did not let up for a good 2.5 hours. “Wordless Chorus” opened the show with Jim James scampering around the stage with a cape on, fully using the eerie backlighting to present a ghostly visual along witht the songs ghostly chorus of “Aaaaahhhhs”. Since I was in party mode most of the night I was focused more on energy and fun than disentcing anything musically. The band played a handful of new songs that didn’t reel me in upon first listen but probably will with time as MMJ usually does with me.

Highlights for the show for me we the monstrous singalong “Mahgeeta”, the reggae-ish bounce of “Phone Went West”, the improv and build up to “Dondante” and of course the balls to the wall 2^nd encore “One Big Holiday” that may rival “Tweezer (Reprise)” as the best concert closer ever, IMO. Just getting people all in a frenzy, the energy in that room was fantastic. The Jacket are in the midst of a 5 night run in NYC where they will play a different album in its entirety every night. Other than that you’ll just have to check them out next tour, which I strongly urge you to do if you want to see, as my buddy put it “The best rock and roll band in the USA today….the new Pearl jam.”

1: Wordless Chorus, Gideon, The Way That He Sings, Heartbreakin Man, They Ran, Golden, Chills, Evelyn Is Not Real, Anytime, Mahgeetah, Carried Away, Wonderful (The Way I Feel), I'm Amazed, Circuital, Dondante, Smokin From Shootin, (end of) Run Thru, Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.2, (end of) Lay Low
E1: Butch Cassidy, Steam Engine, Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.1, Off The Record, Highly Suspicious, Phone Went West
E2: One Big Holiday

Opener/s: none
Venue Info:
beer sitch: $5 micro brews and $3 MGD tall boys. Not bad prices but long ass lines.
parking: there are garages and a small amount of street parking. I walked from my buddies gf’s house.
layout: theatre, with an open floor. Seats in the back of the floor and balcony.
capacity: 1,450 (sold out)