My Morning Jacket and Yo La Tengo @ Verizon Wireless Theater

My Morning Jacket and Yo La Tengo made a pre-SxSW stop at Houston's Verizon Wireless Theater on Monday, March 10. BOTheads Eggs, Cereal, and Toast were on hand to participate in the action. Read the full show review after the jump

Eggs and I--along with Toast and his butter--arrived at the Verizon Wireless Theater fairly early expecting a large crowd. So we were quite surprised when a bartender told us that the venue was expecting about half the attendees of the Wilco show we attended a few nights prior. I guess that sorta makes sense, since Wilco played on a Friday while the MMJ/YLT show was on a Monday. But jebus, this was My Morning Jacket! I guess not everyone in the Houston area salivates over Jim James. Which is really unfortunate for them, if you ask me. At any rate, after shaking off our initial bewilderment, we realized that all of those not-in-the-know non-attendees had done us a favor by missing this great show: they'd given us the gift of space!

We settled into position about three rows from the stage, and managed to find ourselves right next to the same group of people we stood next to at the Wilco show. In fact, we spotted several people we'd seen at Wilco. It appears that half of Wilco's Houston fanbase also digs MMJ. Shortly after our arrival, the PA music faded and openers Yo La Tengo took the stage.

I caught Yo La Tengo for the first time last year and I thoroughly enjoyed their show, so I was pumped to see that they would be opening for My Morning Jacket. YLT is a three-piece band, with the husband/wife team of Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley manning the guitar and drums, respectively, and bassist James McNew pumping out the grooves; all three contribute to the vocals. An aspect of YLT's music that I've always especially enjoyed is that it defies genre classification, bouncing from indie-pop to deep noise jams just when you think that you've got them figured out. Their performance this night was no different, although their set was incredibly short. Eggs and I enjoyed it while it lasted; "Mr. Tough" from 2006's I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass was a definite highlight. I really wish they'd played a bit longer; I feel that YLT is so spectrum-spanning that it's hard to really get into them with such a short set. It's difficult to appreciate the art behind their set-ending 15-minute jam without the context that their full set develops.

Let me preface the MMJ portion of this review by saying that I adore Jim James. My Morning Jacket melts my face, and Z is absolutely one of the best albums I've laid ears upon. So forgive me if I sound a bit biased; it's just that they really are that fucking good. Really.

MMJ caught us all off guard and opened with a new song - "Evil Urges" from their upcoming album of the same name. Eggs and I had gone in expecting to hear--at most--3 or 4 new tunes, but they just kept on coming. Eight of the 20 songs they played were new and had never been performed live before. Call me corny, but I truly felt privileged to be part of the audience that night. Evil Urges is definitely going to be a must-have.

After "Evil Urges", the band moved into two favorites from Z - the surf/reggae-tinged "Off the Record" followed by the religion(or is it Bush?)-referencing "Gideon". Singalongs ensued. In fact, so many of the audience members were belting out the lyrics that it was quite obvious when the band launched into new material, because the frenetic voices dimmed to a hushed awe. Evil Urges' "I'm Amazed" was up next. I've been reading what others think of the new songs on various forums, and I have to agree with the comments that this track sounds like it could be on the radio. Not in a bad way, though--as one commenter put it, "I'm amazed at how f'ing good this song is."

I was also amazed at the phenomenal light show--it really was just incredible. During the set-ending "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2"--a delicious robotic funk confection--in particular, I found myself mesmerized by the lights. We were left in utter darkness several times, and I can't even begin to describe the heady sensation of having MMJ fill your ears while you stand in total darkness among hundreds of other screaming fans. Pure bliss. I'm getting goosebumps just writing about it.

MMJ debuted five other new songs that night: "Highly Suspicious", "Thank You Too", "Sec Walkin'", "Aluminum Park" and "Smokin From Shootin". My personal favorite from the batch of new songs is the velvety soft "Smokin From Shootin"; I also particularly love the Prince-meets-Talking Heads-esque "Highly Suspicious" - at first listen I was a little thrown, but it quickly won me over. Eggs captured all the new songs on video, and after watching all of them several times, I've come to a conclusion: I need Evil Urges. Immediately, preferably.

In addition to "Off the Record" and "Gideon", MMJ played 5 more songs from Z: "What a Wonderful Man" and "Wordless Chorus", as well as encore songs "Dondante", "Lay Low", and "Anytime". It Still Moves was also well-represented, with tracks "Golden", "One Big Holiday", "Run Thru", and "Mahgeetah". "The Way That He Sings" from 2001's At Dawn was also played.

Jim James belongs on the stage. He's self-assured without coming off too cocky, and it's hard to take your eyes away from him. His voice is unbelievably good live - I always have trouble wrapping my mind around his ridiculous falsetto skills. The last time I saw MMJ was at ACL 2007, packed in among the masses. This time around was much more intimate, and I loved getting to see more of the band interaction. Every single band member looked totally into the performance - I particularly appreciated drummer Patrick Hallahan's open-mouthed in-the-zone expression throughout the show. They all especially seemed to enjoy performing the new material, and the Houston crowd threw ample enthusiasm back. James stepped to the edge of the stage several times and just hovered there, half-grinning out at the audience.

This was one of the best live shows I've ever seen...and to think it was just a warm-up for SxSW! If that was practice, I can't imagine how mind-blowing their shows this summer will be (Bonnaroo late-night, anyone?). If you haven't experienced MMJ's live show yet, you simply must. They're one of the best live bands on the planet. Seriously.

Cereal's rating: 9.87456/10 crunchberries. Ridiculously delicious.

Check out "Smokin From Shootin" and "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2" below. You can also view the rest of the MMJ videos Eggs captured.

Check out more pictures from the show.

Evil Urges will be released on ATO Records on June 10th.

Carpe Jim James.

--Cereal