MMJ 2008- Your Favorite Shows and Why?

[treyoliver]

Bonnaroo was my first time seeing them and i was front row right in front of Jim. the set list, the rain, Kurt, Zack, glow sticks,the rain, the setlist, the rain, oh and did anyone else see the olsen twins in front of the gate I swear to god they were right beside me and I later discoverd that it was actually them. aparantlly they are big fans.  o and I met patrick the next night during pearl jam and bought him a beer.  here is a picture of us
http://photos-c.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v272/15/112/329400835/n329400835_234538_2944.jpg

MSG on NYE, Awesome!!!! but not good seats.

I was also at Myrtle Beach and to me that was my favorite show ever. You could tell that the band was blown away at the turn out and the interaction from the audience. They played so well off of it and it was a very exciting atmosphere. oh and cobra was the shiznicity!!!!!

[My Monkey Friend]

I only got to 3 shows- houston, dallas, and NYE. out of those 3..

1. Dallas- great set, and erykah came out
2.

[My Monkey Friend]

Let me try that again-

1. Dallas- great set and Erykah came out
2. NYE- just the coolest atmosphere
3. Houston- EU made their debut. I had no idea what this new music was that they were playing, but it was unreal. it made the next 3 months very long.

[MickeyReds]

I was fortunate to see MMJ @ Bonnaroo and the 2 AZ shows last year...

I have to say, while the Roo show was everything I could desire and more from a band, I actually thought the 2 AZ shows as a pair were better performances, showcasing a number of songs not played at the Roo. While the bevy of covers was a cool treat, I have to say I much prefer the Jacket digging into their own back catalogue.

between the Tempe & Tucson shows, I got the following NON-Bonnaroo performances:

The Dark (simply an AWESOME surprise)
Lowdown
Look At You
Rollin Back
Cobra
The Way That He Sings
War Begun
The Bear
Just One Thing
Into the Woods

so yeah, what a wonderful tour it was... definitely a fan of the evening with... format

So they have played it live?  :o

I'm so jealous.

Yeah, me too.  The only time this tour.  And a rare one at that.

Ill agree with the statements above

[big hungry joe]

the parish in austin for sxsw. it was free, with an open bar, and it's a bar that holds less than 450 people. and they destroyed it.

[Janet]

#1 Tucson , Spur of the moment , with my baby, free, small venue, last show of 2008 for us. Since Oct Chi postponed
#2 Louisville, MMJ hometown, Start of vacation. With my baby
#3 Berkeley Greek, With my baby, Not far from home,brought some family for their first show.
#4 Red Rocks,with my baby, but IMO too many drunk frat boy douche rockets and their wimmins steppin' on ya and spillin' beer all over, strive for excess with success people! Our first Red Rocks show of any sort, a real disappointing
crowd.

I concur with this assessment.  I had such high hopes for my first Red Rocks experience, but alas, the douche rockets ruined it for me.  Ah, well, I like the Gorge better anyway.  

Note to self - MMJ at the Gorge would be epic...

[ALady]

#1 Tucson , Spur of the moment , with my baby, free, small venue, last show of 2008 for us. Since Oct Chi postponed
#2 Louisville, MMJ hometown, Start of vacation. With my baby
#3 Berkeley Greek, With my baby, Not far from home,brought some family for their first show.
#4 Red Rocks,with my baby, but IMO too many drunk frat boy douche rockets and their wimmins steppin' on ya and spillin' beer all over, strive for excess with success people! Our first Red Rocks show of any sort, a real disappointing
crowd.

I concur with this assessment.  I had such high hopes for my first Red Rocks experience, but alas, the douche rockets ruined it for me.  Ah, well, I like the Gorge better anyway.  

Note to self - MMJ at the Gorge would be epic...

Agreed and AGREED!

[dg-ohio]

Out of:  Radio City, Louisville, Milwaukee, Columbus, Chicago 2 ...
                   the winner is...

MILWAUKEE- great Friday Night show! Tons of energy, everyone was very cool, drunk and well behaved.  Great organization with an UNREAL second set close of: Shootin, Touch me II & Run Thru.  Encore: Wdls, Highly Suspicious, Cobra, Anytime & OBH.  
                                     Yep. Milwaukee.
It was a lot of fun watching & hearing the songs & sets evolve form Radio City (seriously start the year @ RCMH, wow) to Chicago in the Year of MMJ.  

Looking forward to 2009 shows.  Hoping for ROTHBURY

[ALady]

That Milwaukee show was great fun, but I have to give the edge to Chicago 2.  I still dream of the day that boot surfaces.

[Angry Ewok]

Bonnaroo was intense and insane, with a great setlist, but rocking out with hypothermia was an experience I won't likely submit myself to, ever again. Louisville and Nashville were very awesome, but I cannot argue which was better. That weekend was a blur, and I wasn't always in my right mind. Met some awesome people, reunited with some awesome people. Since Louisville was kind of the apex, I think that's my favorite of the year.

Oh, and Atlanta was visually stunning, and the music good, but I wasn't able to rock out up front...

[LowDownLuvDawg]

Nashville and Louisville for me...

Nashville was just awesome, fireworks for war begun, the boat that James and gang brought from Japan, and just the setting was so much fun, despite lack of pissers... plus i saw the soundcheck so that was sweet

Louisville... the homecoming gig... was just a great event, plus that Evil Urges Maker's Mark Poster might have been the coolest thing liquor advertising I've ever seen....

[Angry Ewok]

Louisville... the homecoming gig... was just a great event, plus that Evil Urges Maker's Mark Poster might have been the coolest thing liquor advertising I've ever seen....

Dude, if I was a baller, I would own that. Didn't that banner suspiciously disappear?

[ALady]

I seem to remember them putting tape over it or something...

[Kapila]

I think everyone who went to the Louisville show can agree that they were on fire from the first notes of Anytime to the last chord of One Big Holiday.

[Shouldnt Be Ashamed]

I saw 4 shows in 2008 - Radio City, DAR in DC, Philly and MSG on NYE.  They were all great but DAR was a notch below because of muddled acoustics and lame crowd as noted by others.  I struggle with which of the other three was my "favorite" since they all had their own special character that made them unique.  While I hate to rank the top three, a Sophie's choice of sorts, I ultimately decided on the following based on which show I would most like to experience again if such a thing was possible.  I have the audio recordings of all three shows and videos which I took myself and have listened to them many times to percolate on my impressions.  I was also fortunate to be in the first few rows of all four shows, making a comparison more equitable.

1.  Philly - I had my doubts about the venue - essentially an asphalt parking lot.  When it started to get dark, the expansive stage and lights took over and the surrounding waterfront with bridges and atmospherics (swirling winds from an approaching hurricane) made it a magical setting. The acoustics up front were perfect and the crowd was the best of all the 4 shows. Oh, and by the way, MMJ just seemed at the peak of 2008 tour perfection, playing exclusively their tunes.  They played with inspiration, Jim's voice was strong and nearly perfect and they seemed to have boundless energy through a very long set.  Phone Went West was ridiculous - the band, the crowd and setting just perfect for this song.  I have a movie of the entire PWW and it confirms the "in the moment" feeling.  Overall, 2008 tour perfection.

2.  Radio City - An incredibly special moment for MMJ with a sellout in a matter of minutes in one of the most storied venues in the world.  I don't think I'm alone in this forum in saying the anticipation of this show was almost too much to bear.  Acoustics, of course, were great and when Jim brushed by me on his first foray up to the rafters stage left I almost lost it (I have it all on video including my foul language).  It was a great performance by the band from start to finish.  The crowd left a bit to be desired, however; not nearly as many hard core up front as in Philly.

3. MSG on NYE - It doesn't seem right to rank a show like this as 3rd since it was yet another huge milestone for MMJ and a truly epic performance.  I was up front by Jim in the pit and even after 5 hrs of standing was still energized - the crowd was great, most likely a function of self-selection as in the GA Philly show.  I have to admit I have mixed feelings about some of the covers and added musicians/singers - pluses and minuses but overall I don't think as strong as pure MMJ.  I can't think of a better way to spend NYE and would go in a heartbeat if they repeat.

4.  DAR in DC - The band was great and I loved the show.  Just a notch down given the poor acoustics and lots of clueless folks at the show.

As I mentioned, I have lots of video from these shows and, in my humble opinion, I think they are generally pretty good having been shot primarily in wide angle close to the stage.  Some of the files are large (>1GB) and long (e.g. the aforementioned 9 min. PWW at Philly and an even longer Dondante at MSG) I have never uploaded movies to the web so would appreciate any advice for these larger files so I can share with the faithful to help make it through to the next tour.

I was at all three except Philly. I thought War Begun at DAR was epic; as was Steam Engine. Best show of the year was RCMH. The whole place was shaking during OBH.

[AllyDee]

having only been to RCMH, Boston, and NYE last year, I can't make a very good choice of the best one

I did love that they opened with Mahgeetah in Boston though, it seems they opened with Evil Urges/Anytime on most of the other dates

[GO4IT]

I saw 4 shows in 2008 - Radio City, DAR in DC, Philly and MSG on NYE.  They were all great but DAR was a notch below because of muddled acoustics and lame crowd as noted by others.  I struggle with which of the other three was my "favorite" since they all had their own special character that made them unique.  While I hate to rank the top three, a Sophie's choice of sorts, I ultimately decided on the following based on which show I would most like to experience again if such a thing was possible.  I have the audio recordings of all three shows and videos which I took myself and have listened to them many times to percolate on my impressions.  I was also fortunate to be in the first few rows of all four shows, making a comparison more equitable.

1.  Philly - I had my doubts about the venue - essentially an asphalt parking lot.  When it started to get dark, the expansive stage and lights took over and the surrounding waterfront with bridges and atmospherics (swirling winds from an approaching hurricane) made it a magical setting. The acoustics up front were perfect and the crowd was the best of all the 4 shows. Oh, and by the way, MMJ just seemed at the peak of 2008 tour perfection, playing exclusively their tunes.  They played with inspiration, Jim's voice was strong and nearly perfect and they seemed to have boundless energy through a very long set.  Phone Went West was ridiculous - the band, the crowd and setting just perfect for this song.  I have a movie of the entire PWW and it confirms the "in the moment" feeling.  Overall, 2008 tour perfection.

2.  Radio City - An incredibly special moment for MMJ with a sellout in a matter of minutes in one of the most storied venues in the world.  I don't think I'm alone in this forum in saying the anticipation of this show was almost too much to bear.  Acoustics, of course, were great and when Jim brushed by me on his first foray up to the rafters stage left I almost lost it (I have it all on video including my foul language).  It was a great performance by the band from start to finish.  The crowd left a bit to be desired, however; not nearly as many hard core up front as in Philly.

3. MSG on NYE - It doesn't seem right to rank a show like this as 3rd since it was yet another huge milestone for MMJ and a truly epic performance.  I was up front by Jim in the pit and even after 5 hrs of standing was still energized - the crowd was great, most likely a function of self-selection as in the GA Philly show.  I have to admit I have mixed feelings about some of the covers and added musicians/singers - pluses and minuses but overall I don't think as strong as pure MMJ.  I can't think of a better way to spend NYE and would go in a heartbeat if they repeat.

4.  DAR in DC - The band was great and I loved the show.  Just a notch down given the poor acoustics and lots of clueless folks at the show.

As I mentioned, I have lots of video from these shows and, in my humble opinion, I think they are generally pretty good having been shot primarily in wide angle close to the stage.  Some of the files are large (>1GB) and long (e.g. the aforementioned 9 min. PWW at Philly and an even longer Dondante at MSG) I have never uploaded movies to the web so would appreciate any advice for these larger files so I can share with the faithful to help make it through to the next tour.

I was at all three except Philly. I thought War Begun at DAR was epic; as was Steam Engine. Best show of the year was RCMH. The whole place was shaking during OBH.

Even though I ranked it 4th, the band put on a great show at DAR.  I agree that War Begun was a standout.  Last night I watched the 7 songs I captured from DAR on video, including War Begun, and I came away with an increased appreciation for the concert.  Really the only things that detracted a bit were the somewhat muddied acoustics and an aloof crowd.  But I'll take a night of MMJ like that over just about anything.

[GoBears]

Here is the ranking of the '08 shows i made it to:

1) Nashville....fireworks during war begun, the general jackson, hot Tenn night.
2) Melbourne...the Billboard was an awesome club to see them in, Jim gave many talks on the buildings that felt like morphing brains. The Aussies finally got into the band for this show
3)The Greek - Berkeley, Misty night kept many people away, but those that made it got to float through the 'Scottish Battlefield from Braveheart' that JJ described.
4)Sydney...The Metro was a cool club, felt like a highschool theater, crowd could have moved a little to the songs.
5)Sydney...Entertainment Center, Played a pretty short set opening for , but brought it during dondante
6)Kansas City...Uptown, cool theater, but  crowd was pretty sterile...got weird looks for smoking a joint at the show. During OBH Jim James made it onto the Muppets style balcony to rock out his solo

[september blues]

...

[Yimyames]

1. NYE MSG - this show was amazing it solidified MMJ as my favorite band. Also nothing is better than having Jim James do the countdown for the new year.

2. Bonnaroo '08 - Kirk Hamett and Zack G coming out. Let alone the beautiful covers and the way MMJ controlled the rain. I mean cmon 4 hours of gorgeousness.

3. Nashville Riverfront - War Begun. The venue, the fireworks and the amazing sound.

4. Louisville Waterfront - MMJ's hometown. Everything was just right  :)

Also gonna have to throw Bonnaroo '06 out there