Irving Plaza Night 1

[SammyV]

Guess I'll be the first to comment on the show last night:  Awesome.

Got there around 8:30, and there weren't many people there.  Dr. Dog went on shortly, and played a pretty good set.  I hadn't heard them before, and I look forward to hearing them tonight again.  

At around 9:30 M. Ward trotted onto the stage.  By this time the place was basically full, and he got a lot of applause.  Jim came out for his second number, and the rest of the boys joined them soon after.  Ward put on a great show, and looked like he was happy playing with the guys.

I had been right up front, but in between Ward's set and MMJ I got to the stage on Carl's side.  They were laying down the set lists, and I didn't want to look, but ofcourse I did, it went like this (as I recall):
One Big Holiday
Dancefloors
O Is The One That Is Real
I Will Sing You Songs
Death Is the Easy Way (W/ M. Ward)
It Beats 4 U
Lowdown
The Way That He Sings
The Bear
Easy Morning Rebel
Steam Engine
Run Thru
End of Cobra (long version)
-----------
Sooner
Golden (W/ M. Ward)
Mahgeeta

Ofcourse, it was all great.  Holiday is a fantastic opening, and coupled with Dancefloors really gets the crowd into it.  I'd say my highlights were probably Easy Morning Rebel, which for some reason I hadn't really gotten into before, but it really rocked tonight.  Cobra was also fantastic.  First time hearing it, they played a great long version.  

Hopefuloly they'll switch up the set list a little tonight.  I want to here Oxen, and Strangulation, also Masterplan, How Do You Know.  I think thats about it for the songs they are normally playing this tour.  I would love to hear Phone Went West as the closer.  I don't know if the guys are tired of it or something, but in my opinion its there best closer by far.  Also wouldn't mind hearing the old staples, The Dark, Heartbreakin Man, Bermuda Highway.  We'll see....

[The Boar]

I heard "How do you know?" in St. Louis -- where is it from? Is it a new song like "It beats 4 U" ? Or just a song that is not on an album?

And Sammy, what is this "Oxen" song to which you refer?

[swampscrapper]

I miss Johnny Quaid and could do without the parrot.
I wish the guys all the best and thank them for the show last year at the TLA in Philly.  I now have come to the realization that the overwhelming power and energy of that TLA show was a fleeting moment in time.

On a more technical level, James' guitar was so distorted for Mahgeetah you couldnt even hear the chords, it sounded like a RATT power chord as opposed to a rich textured reverbed guitar that attracted me to the band in the first place.

[SammyV]

How Do You Know, is off the Split EP with Songs: Ohia.  Oxen (I believe some are calling it How Do I Know?) is a new song like It Beats.

[CC]

today's NY daily:

http://www.mymorningjacket.com/Press/nydailynews060304.jpg

[pingybrown]

from today's NY Times about M. Ward

Exuberance in the Midst of Sadness
By KELEFA SANNEH
 
Why does M. Ward sing like that? It seems to be a put-on, at first: that grainy, muted-trumpet voice wafting elegantly out of that awkward, maybe even uncomfortable guy who's pacing the stage, trying to rock his acoustic guitar to sleep.

More than a year ago Mr. Ward (the M stands for Matt) released "The Transfiguration of Vincent" (Merge), a sleepily seductive CD in the eccentric folk tradition of John Fahey and Karen Dalton. The album, gorgeous but slightly incomplete, grabs hold slowly and insistently: by the time you decide that you love it, you may find that you've already memorized half the songs.

At Irving Plaza on Tuesday night Mr. Ward opened for My Morning Jacket. And his eight-song set was a minor masterpiece, eerie and astonishing. At the start he transformed his "Duet for Guitars, No. 3" into a single breakneck (and defiantly messy) orgy of finger-picking.

During "Outta My Head," Jim James, the singer for My Morning Jacket, slid his impossibly sad, straight notes behind Mr. Ward's curled phrases. The rest of My Morning Jacket joined in on a raucous run through "Vincent O'Brien," emphasizing the bitter exuberance of the lyrics: "He only sings when he's sad/But he's sad all the time/So he sings the whole night through/Yeah, he sings in the daytime, too."

Mr. Ward is a wistful, quizzical narrator who doesn't quite believe his own daydreams. "I'm just a guy from Portland, Ore.," he said. "Then you wake up and there's your band, My Morning Jacket. Who do you have to thank?" After a moment he answered his own question: "New York City." A pause. "Maybe."

There was one misstep: a dawdling cover of David Bowie's "Let's Dance." But everything else was lovely, especially the finale, a hushed "Undertaker." Mr. Ward began the chorus with a voice like smoke: "Oh, but if you're gonna leave . . ." Then a sideways glance, as if he were measuring his words, and the croaked falsetto conclusion: "Better call the undertaker/Take me under, undertaker/Take me home."