Mean Fiddler, London

[wordawg]

Absolute class last night despite electrical problems.  Don't how they do it, but they do it so well.  Blistering set full of warmth and head bouncing rock AND roll.  Best band I've seen since I don't know when. Crowd loved them.  They seem to take it to a different level playing live. They rendered a 45 year old man spechless (but he had a bloody big smile on his face!).  Tremendous stuff.

[CC]

good to hear you liked it greggy! yeah, lotsa bloody big smiles filled the mean fiddler last night ;D too bad about the power problem in the beginning but that didn't last too long and after that it was just pure magic...

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

That is hilarious!  The server is down RIGHT NOW because the power has been out since last night!!

 :o

[anomalyhay]

HEY!!!!!
Haven't been near acomputer since thursday afternoon so this is first time in 4 DAYS!!
Anyway, was at the show (my first MMJ show EVA!!)and just like to say that it was BL**DY BRILLIANT, absolutely amazing and even the power problem didn't dampen the atmosphere cos we just had Jim and his guitar  ;D ;D ;D
Absolutely bl**dy amazing, couldn't wipe the smile off my face the whole time and it was still there the whole of Friday, in fact, there are still remnants of it now (sunday evening!!)
Hey to all who were there, i talked to a few people and made a few new friends but don't know if any of them were any of you!  :-[
C Ya H. :-*
 ;D ;D ;D

[Christy Watson]

I was nodding along relentlessly with a massive smile on my face...woke up still happy and am have been in a daze since thursday...immense...

[anomalyhay]

Yeah, they have that effect, it's 8 'o'clock monday morning and i'm in the best mood ever!!! ;D ;D ;D
Where 'bouts were u??
I was only 4 rows back from the stage, couldn't manage to get closer but I DON'T CARE ;D!!!!
C Ya H. :-*

[Crazy_Horse]

Travelled from Ireland to see the gig and it was worth every penny. Funny to hear people talking about them before the gig as 'low-fi-americana'. They must have got some shock. Despite electrical problem this was the best gig I've seen in terms of being awestruck since REM in 1984 and it was probably better than that. What a great great band.

[loper]

The guys were brilliant but the sound was c**p. Even after the power problem was resolved the balance was all wrong. At no stage in the evening could Johnny's lead guitar be heard over the rhythm section and Jim's vocals only came to the fore late on. Thank god for his acoustic set, it was breathtaking. Has there ever been a better voice in rock history?

I'm amazed that no one else thought the sound balance was all wrong. At the risk of being accused of ageism/sexism the only person I saw in the sound booth all night was a young blond girl who didn't seem to be doing a lot.  

[CC]

a review:

http://ixfm.fimc.net/Article.asp?id=14958

[Oz]

Sounds like a fine gig... But what was wrong with the power? And that sound thing, I agree that sometimes Johnny's guitar tends to fade away in the noise, wich is such a pity, 'cuz most of the times he plays all the catchy melodies that make songs like 'Mahgeetah' the masterpieces they are..

[thebigbang]

MY MORNING JACKET
London Mean Fiddler, 20 November 2003
http://www.playlouder.com/feature/+mymorningjacket/

More than even The Mars Volta or The Cooper Temple Clause this band must get pissed off about being defined by their hair. When you see My Morning Jacket waving their majestic wheat fields of Kentucky blondeness to another reverb-splendid guitararmama the clichés of country rock hell are hard to avoid.

On record it takes a few listens to dispel those clichés. For a start My Morning Jacket don't sound all that much like Neil Young. Jim James' voice has the same, reedy, emotive 'it's not easy being green' quality but it's purer, less sandblasted. And My Morning Jacket's guitars attack in legions, layered one on top of another with a squealing riff on the top, instead of Neil's crabby, determined, solo assault.

Live, the first surprise is that Jim really does sing like that. Alright, intellectually you know that those birdsong syllables are coming from a man's larynx, but that's not the same as seeing his lips move. Then the second surprise is in finding that in a guitar-solo-stuffed two hours the pleasure of the mighty riff doesn't fade. Too many guitarists seem to use their instrument as filler, or as something to do with their hands while the singer fondles the microphone, but here the guitars are pitched at a level that complements his voice like the sea complements the seagull.

Apparently My Morning Jacket's plan when they started was to combine the power of rock'n'roll with the magic and eloquence of the best Disney soundtracks. Maybe that's another reason for the hair, to give them that anthropomorphic, woodland creature appeal. The 'Bare Necessities' this is not but it's much more than the grimly authentic country-rock hoedown that it could have been.

WORDS: Trevor Baker