Zen Rock Gardens

[EC]

Just a little "good luck" to My Morning Jacket who are playing in the mountains of Japan tonight.  Or, maybe they already did, I don't know what the time difference in Japan is.

Did anybody check out that website?  All those stages surrounded by mountains?  It's pretty cool.  

Anyhow, rock Japan!!  And if anybody's there, please let us know how it all went down.  :)

[EC]

Found this:

http://www2.fujirockexpress.com/05/report/report.php?id=699
Mud Bang
My Morning Jacket Strike a Chord

Anyone familiar with Louisville Kentucky's My Morning Jacket knows how hauntingly precious their brand of heartland space rock can be. Vocalist, Jim James' plaintive croon can a whisper in your ear or a wail from the bottom of a well. At the Field of Heaven tonight, however, the band hit with a force unheard on record. Don't know how many people were expecting them to open with a Prince cover, either (Sign O' the Times' Never Take the Place of Your Man).
The cavernous atmospheres and delay-treated choruses were intact, but turned to eleven. This wasn't the sound of the farm house where they recorded their early albums. It sounded more like an airplane hangar, with the band playing at ear-splitting volume on the opposite end of the microphones. The music seemed to consume them, the head-banging conceailing the entire faces of both the drummer and bassist (imagine Cousin It playing power chords). James was so far gone at one point that one of his tech crew touched his shoulder to hand him the next guitar (and there were many), shrugged, and walked back offstage to wait. Every head was flailing its whispy locks harder than if they were playing the Slayer songbook with a Skynard-style attack. They made me dizzy just watching. MMJ's placement on the jamband-friendly Field of Heaven may sound unusual, but the band's homespun roots are apparent in the country, blues and classic rock figures the float to the surface.
Echoes of Neil Young emanated from "Bermuda Highway," where the band took a break as James accompanied himself on acoustic guitar. His voice moved from fragile bleat to ropey falsetto, his eyes squeezed nearly shut and face taut like an old man trying to read the paper -- or cry.
"It's raining spiders," says James. But before we can ponder the significance of this statement we realise he's right: spiders in the awnings above had begun to drop onto his head. James brushed it off - both literally and figuratively. "Maybe spiders in the hair is a bad sign," he joked. The extent of interaction between the band and the audience didn't go much further than that, but it didn't need to go anywhere in the first place. James summed it up in his only other exhange: "Field of Heaven, I like that."


Reported by jinki (2005.07.31 / 00:22)

[whothrewthecake]

i love it!

"it's raining spiders!" Ê:)

[ratsprayer]

the far east?  a stage surrounded by mountains?  raining spiders?  sounds like a zen moment to me.   ;)

[EC]

http://www2.fujirockexpress.com/05/report/report.php?id=939&page=0&sword=morning%20jacket&swhen=&swhere=&swho=&sgenre=&swrittenby=
Those are some radical wrist sweatbands.  Also, everybody is in full rock face assault.  

[corey]

Awesome. PLain awesome.

[whothrewthecake]

love the wristbands, love the face melting rock expressions.
i do feel a little sorry for that teddy bear.  ;)

[EC]

I've noticed that Carl is definitely not wearing a wristband, and I can't tell if Tom is or not.

...but I also noticed that Patrick is wearing two...  

Perhaps his nickname should be sweatywrist.

[tomEisenbraun]

Wait, could it be that My Morning Jacket is really just a Justin Timberlake side project?




















[size=10](except for the fact that Bo is hotter, there is a bit of a resemblance there)[/size]

[EC]

Hmmm, I don't see it...

(What the HELL, Eisey?  Justin TIMBERLAKE?! ;))

[tomEisenbraun]

Haha, ok fine. A short-haired Orlando Bloom maybe.

[sweatboard]

That looks like a high energy show.  I wonder if there is some symbolism in Jim "Hanging" the bear to death on his mic stand?  Also, Does anyone know the setlist?  Please post it here.  Thanks

Brian

[darkglow]

"we need somethin' to make us look official.. like we got all the answers or sumthin..."

"how bout some gold bracelets?"

[doEVILslittle]

seeing those pictures, the boys have definitely hit a groove and i cannot waaaaaaait to see them live again...they're gonna melt my face again, though this time i doubt the doc will be able to reconstruct my face this time