Tag Archives: Michael Jurick
MMJ at MSG
December 15th, 2011My Morning Jacket – Madison Square Garden – December 14, 2011
Sure, it’s an impressive feat to pull the sword out of the stone. But what really matters is if you can slay the dragon once you’ve got that weapon in your hand. And last night, My Morning Jacket, having the Excalibur of arena rock shows in their grip, killed the beast that is Madison Square Garden like few can. Opening with “Victory Dance,” the stage awash in fiery orange light, Jim James seemed to be leading the amped crowd into battle with him. From there it was two straight hours of MMJ favorites, special guests and guns-a-blazing guitar jams. Each song seemed to top the previous one with barely a pause in between—the band and crowd stepping up a ladder one rung at a time until finally we all looked down with a collective “Whoa! How did we get up this high?”
James raced around the stage like an uncaged animal bound with contagious energy, using every inch of real estate, occasionally with a towel awkwardly around his head, other times more dramatically wrapped in a cape. In a show that was an unending highlight reel, my personal favorite stretch included “Smokin’ from Shootin’,” which led into the quintessential MMJ jam with Patrick Hallahan taking control on drums before dissolving into a long, electronic “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream, Pt. 2.” This was impossibly capped by a thrust-your-arms-in-the-air, utterly relentless “Off the Record.” Perhaps equally impressive were the quiet moments, particularly a gorgeous version of “Golden” with Carl Broemel moving to pedal steel, James on acoustic and the crowd as quiet and attentive as an MSG audience can be.
Songs off Circuital fit right in with older material. But not to rest on the power of their normal repertoire, the band invited several guests onstage to add new twists: members of opener Band of Horses, a horn section that punctuated MMJ favorites like “Dancefloors” and Brian Jackson, who added flute to a superlative version of “Dondante” and a perfect cover of Gil Scott Heron’s “The Bottle” (on which he originally played). The show ended just as strongly as it had started, with a seven-song encore, including James solo acoustic on “Bermuda Highway” and the always explosive “One Big Holiday,” which had the mighty dragon of MSG lying defeated in a heap and yet still screaming for more. —A. Stein
A Band with Infinite Possibilities
March 23rd, 2011Mike Gordon – Brooklyn Bowl – March 22, 2011
Cross-breeding genres without a care and inserting long, noodling jams everywhere, Mike Gordon and his guitarist Scott Murawski, another stalwart from the old days of jam yore, filled two long sets at Brooklyn Bowl Tuesday night with original music and inventive takes on other people’s tunes. The first set opened with “Idea” and already the template was struck: asymmetric pop songs, odd-meter rhythms, quirky lyrics and a band talented enough to create infinite possibilities with the material. Like most of the songs played, it had lengthy keyboard and guitar solos, returning to the chorus before launching into a final coda jam led by Gordon’s electrifying bass. Murawski was like a jam-band compendium from the old days of the type, ably channeling Trey Anastasio, Dickey Betts, Jimmy Herring and Carlos Santana depending on what the songs called for. Standout versions of originals “Sugar Shack” and “Can’t Stand Still” and perfectly executed covers of the blues-bluegrass “Walls of Time,” Beck’s “Black Tambourine” and Talking Heads’ “Cities” proved throughout the first set that Gordon truly believes that more is more and also proved that he is correct.
The second set allowed things to get even weirder and more luxuriously self-indulgent. Long spaced-out sections showed the band to be in well-tuned form, with all the musicians locked into grooves that had the audience bouncing. Gordon led the way with effects-laden bass playing that was somehow both bandleader and sideman. A bizarro dance contest was held onstage as the band played “The Void,” a song in 7/4 time. Like all good jamsters, Gordon saved his best for last, wowing the Bowl with a lengthy closing “Suskind Hotel” that segued nicely into “La La La” before going back into “Suskind.” Those in the crowd had been calling for their desired playlist all night, and most were rewarded when they returned for a great version of “Meat,” which found Gordon as phenomenal on his instrument as ever. —A. Stein
Photos courtesy of Michael Jurick | music.jurick.net
Soulive – Brooklyn Bowl – March 1, 2011
March 2nd, 2011
Funky Meters – Brooklyn Bowl – February 16, 2011
February 17th, 2011
Photos courtesy of Michael Jurick | music.jurick.net
(The Funky Meters also play Brooklyn Bowl tonight.)
Soul to Soul II: Benefit for Haiti – Brooklyn Bowl – January 18, 2010
January 19th, 2011
Matisyahu – Brooklyn Bowl – November 29, 2010
November 30th, 2010
Muse – Prudential Center – October 24, 2010
October 25th, 2010
Bustle in Your Hedgerow – Brooklyn Bowl – October 9, 2010
October 11th, 2010
The Radiators – Brooklyn Bowl – September 3, 2010
September 6th, 2010
A Killer Dance Party at Terminal 5
May 24th, 2010LCD Soundsystem – Terminal 5 – May 21, 2010
On Friday night, Terminal 5 went to full capacity to try to grasp LCD Soundsystem’s official return to New York City. And this isn’t even entirely true: Friday’s show was the second of a sold-out four-show run, spanning Thursday to Sunday and numbering 12,000 tickets. So as fans packed themselves between the stage and the bar, they were part of something achingly fun. Distilled as an English sentence: This was happening.
From the outset, the band made clear their desire to destroy any vestige of collective boundaries. On the stunning opener, “Us v Them,” from their 2007 release, Sound of Silver, LCD Soundsystem poked fun at the divisions that brought their audience in the door as individuals in the hopes of having them move in unison. Later in the set, frontman James Murphy directed, in quick succession, possible second single from the brand new This Is Happening, “All I Want,” the band’s thesis statement, “All My Friends,” and “I Can Change,” each full of the Confucian-style wisdom (“I wouldn’t change one stupid decision/ For another five years of life”) that breeds such a sense of unity among those who subscribe to their recommendations.
The night closed with “Losing My Edge,” a song about the fragility and impermanence of youth, and “New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down,” a darkly romantic ode to the city, a sense of a rapidly fading moment and the impossible mission of recapturing it. Balloons poured from the ceiling and a few thousand individual orbs all bounced together. —Geoff Nelson
Photos courtesy of Michael Jurick | music.jurick.net
Snoop Dogg – Brooklyn Bowl – April 19, 2010
April 20th, 2010
Drive-By Truckers – Webster Hall – April 1, 2010
April 2nd, 2010
