New here, just saw my first show, need somewhere to vent (a novel)

[debbie]

    I love this post.  I have felt this same way so many times and this is why I would never miss a local show and always get up close (always on Jim's side!), why I paid a LOT of money to see them in Mexico, and why I am going to see them 3 nights in a row (and that still won't be enough, or soon enough) in SF.  My husband and I always talk about how Jim is like this humble musical mystic right up there with the likes of Jim Morrison, and even (to a lesser extent) Bob Marley.  I am so fucking addicted to this band.  Nobody totally gets it until they seem them live. 

And God, I so badly want to go to a MMJ show before SF.  I'm dying.  I just don't know anyone else willing to fly to another city to see them.   

[debbie]

"Us die hard music fans and especially Jacket Heads we are a special breed."  Yes we absolutely are!   

[tdb810]

You've come to the right place!  Welcome!

[dub82]

@timandre- yes it was corby and his crew talking about hangout. It was on Wednesday.

I bet corby is sick of me emailing him and Danny about how great this band is. Been doing it for years!

[Fully]

I understand completely. My first jacket show was way long after I started listening to them and also a festival set. I felt like this must be what people who get something out of going to church feel. Welcome to the fold. When everyone in your daily life doesn't understand why you talk about them incessantly,  come to us.

[ruralt]

@ffghtrs I would love to go to Red Rocks but I cashed out all my vacation time for Hangout and won't have it built back up in time. I hope maybe someday. And now that you mention it, I've never had music in my dreams, that I can recall. I never hear anything at all, even when I'm talking to people. It all seems telepathic or something. They are just very visually vivid. I do get those physical sensations though, but it's very specific to chord quality and progression. I'd like to see some music cognition dissertation on why that may happen!

I'd also like to hear this radio show that's being talked about. I will have to check it out.

@debbie I smell what you're steppin' in. I only had this vague sense of how Jim is operating on a level different from most people, but it didn't really smack me in the face until that show. Have fun at your three nighter!

When everyone in your daily life doesn't understand why you talk about them incessantly,  come to us.

Thanks again, guys.

[pattilovesmmj]

Hi Ruralt: what an honest and wonderful post about this band.

Welcome to my life.  The first time I saw them back about 8 years ago, I was truly astonished.  I've seen my share of great bands over the years, but this band grabbed me and pulled me in like no other.
Their cohesiveness is abosolutely astounding.  I cry listenting to their music, at the shows and sometimes just thinking about the band and how one song can bring me out of a deep funk and put the funk back in my soul.  Truly, I believe they are THE Band!!!

[werduga]

Great post and welcome to your new obsession! Each show is like a new tattoo on your brain and each sonic experience will be with you for life... And the best part is that no one can ever take that away from you.

[lpkell2145]

Your post is awesome and welcome to the forum.  There are few things in life that I love more than being at an MMJ concert.  What they accomplish up on stage is pure magic! Oh and the fans...I remember walking through the gates at my very first Jacket concert and being like Yes, these are my people!!

[easy way]

I'm glad I got around to reading this... You're in the right place! 

[rdylanoconnor]

Wife - what time did you come to bed last night?

Me - about midnight.

Wife - yikes. Why so late?

Me - after the Rangers game, Bennett asked about MMJ so I showed him Okonokos. He's hooked.

Wife - you're like a scientologist of My Morning Jacket

Laughter. So true!!

[nuggets]

great review, ruralt. tfs 

I don't know any other band that moves such a wide range of people at any given show. It seems like EVERY show review I read includes some kind of magical or spiritual feeling, whether it's the person's first show or 100th show.

I now understand why people followed the Dead.

[Raine_Cloud]

I recently had my first MMJ concert experience and it went down in history as one of the best moments of my life.
Wordless Chorus was playing and I looked at all the people, all MY people, who love this band just as much as I do.

I heard the people singing their hearts out, knowing every inflection to each word, anticipating the next note. I broke out into tears- happy, beautiful tears. I laughed, feeling hysterical, feeling crazy, but I saw the love the crowd felt, and I knew that they were feeling the same thing I was.

When something touches you so deeply and profoundly, it's an amazing experience. But when a group of people share that experience with you, you know you're not alone. These things we feel are real, validated- a collective experience. I'm so grateful to have that experience and be able to share mine with those who know exactly what my heart speaks of, thank you.

[Gina]

I feel the same.  JaneCool tried for a few years to get me into what I called "the hairy dudes".  I tried to listen to some stuff.  I didn't dislike them.  I wasn't crazy about them.  Then I went to OBH1 so she would have a room mate.  HOLY SHIT!  I've never seen or felt anything quite like that at any concert before, and it wasn't just THEM - it was everyone around us.  It was the most amazing indescribable thing.  I just can't find the words.  When I saw Patrick that week, I had to tell him that the entire vibe, the energy they put out on stage and the energy coming back from the fans in this glorious circle just blew me away.

Ever since then, I have gone deep.  I haven't loved a band this much since The Who or Genesis, and that says a lot about me.  I totally understand now how people come to follow bands around, because that is all I want to do.  I wish that I could.  They make me happy.  The music is beautiful and it touches so many.  There is an additional perk though: the fans.  MMJ fans seem to be a glorious universal tribe.  I am blessed to have made many new friends through this forum, FB, Twitter, and shows.   And I just can't get enough...

[MMJTX]

wow ruralt this is insane,

I too have been a fan of MMJ for 10 or so years ever since I was freshmen in college and discovered Z.

And I too saw MMJ for the first time at Hangout and felt what you felt. I was with my best friend who has seen them a couple times but being there with him and knowing he was the only person that I knew that was a bigger fan than me made it special, a true Bro-ment.

I just knew I had to go see them at Red Rocks (another first experience for me) it was perfect. I flew up Friday afternoon, went to the show and came back home on Saturday, the most amazing 24 hours of my life.

I'll be seeing them on night 2 in Austin, Tx and driving up to Dallas on Saturday so I still have some MMJ left this year and I absolutely cannot wait.

Maybe we should date???

[ruralt]

So happy to see this thing still gets replies, with such awesome, beautiful stories! Love you guys.

wow ruralt this is insane,

I too have been a fan of MMJ for 10 or so years ever since I was freshmen in college and discovered Z.

And I too saw MMJ for the first time at Hangout and felt what you felt. I was with my best friend who has seen them a couple times but being there with him and knowing he was the only person that I knew that was a bigger fan than me made it special, a true Bro-ment.

I just knew I had to go see them at Red Rocks (another first experience for me) it was perfect. I flew up Friday afternoon, went to the show and came back home on Saturday, the most amazing 24 hours of my life.

I'll be seeing them on night 2 in Austin, Tx and driving up to Dallas on Saturday so I still have some MMJ left this year and I absolutely cannot wait.

Maybe we should date???

That is fucking crazy. I went to Red Rocks as well (also a first for me). I already planned on going to Dallas, but after Red Rocks I decided I also have to go to Austin, but I can't go Thursday so will just be there for the second night.

This is some straight up twilight zone shit.

[MMJTX]

haha no way, that's wild,

glad we're going through this amazing journey together even if we've never met.

Enjoy the shows, maybe we'll meet

[GO4IT]

haha no way, that's wild,

glad we're going through this amazing journey together even if we've never met.

Enjoy the shows, maybe we'll meet

You guys should probably just get married, if for no other reason to save on hotels at all the out of town MMJ shows.

But in all seriousness, very touching sentiments in this string about our connections with this band.  I can absolutely relate.

[Lonndown27]

Fuck yeah to every damn post!

Ive sadly only seen the Jacket once and theyve been my favorite band since 2004. My only show was a 2 hours 30 minute stomp at Twilight concert series in Salt lake city 2012 , the day before the first night at Red rocks 2012. It was a perfect setlist (other than not getting either Steam or Dondante) for a first time show: the crazy psych freak out jam on Off the Record tire my face apart. The opening song being Evil Urges blew my mind as id wished id been able to see them on that tour. Getting an Evelyn's Not Real at my first show was insane!  Circuital blew my mind with its Bob Dylan crossed with Rolling Floyd atmospherics. And the best two: a 10 minute War Begun and the epic epic 2012 version of Phone.  They were experimenting heavily that night on the jams, trying to find the right balance for the Red Rocks shows.

My lady and I made out during Mahgeetah as that w as the song she says made her fall in love with me :) despite the bootleg missing the encore of Victory Dance Wordless and OBH, each one besides Wordless was over 8 minutes long and full of the most intense jamming id ever heard let alone witnessed.

Jim was flying around like a freak on a leash soloing and singing in a way as to make us all laugh as well as cry and of course scream the fuck a long. 

Magic happened during the beginning of Touch Me Pt II which u can hear on the bootleg: out of the darkness with a thumping beat from Pt.II, thousands of glowsticks went flying up into the air being thrown at the crowd but the effect was STARTLING: IT WAS AS IF THE SKY WAS RAINING GLOWSTICKS! !! the guys were laughing onstage at our wonderment and the whole show had the atmosphere of one big summer party.

I will NEVER forget that night. EVER

[Lonndown27]

Hi Ruralt: what an honest and wonderful post about this band.

Welcome to my life.  The first time I saw them back about 8 years ago, I was truly astonished.  I've seen my share of great bands over the years, but this band grabbed me and pulled me in like no other.
Their cohesiveness is abosolutely astounding.  I cry listenting to their music, at the shows and sometimes just thinking about the band and how one song can bring me out of a deep funk and put the funk back in my soul.  Truly, I believe they are THE Band!!!

ME TOO TO EVERYTHING YOU SAID SERIOUSLY