Trombone Shorty, Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket

by on August 8, 2012 in Music News

Trombone Shorty, Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket Red Rocks Photo Traci Lynn Markle - Mountain Weekly News

Morrison, Colorado – What a great night at Red Rocks. Beautiful Weather and a perfect mix of three very diverse bands that all seemed to fit together somehow. This was the second night of a two night run at beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheater. The night started off with Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. Trombone Shorty is a young trombone player out of New Orleans, LA. If anyone can get an evening off to a fun start, it’s Trombone Shorty and his band. These guys have such a fun, young vibe about them. People were up on their feet and dancing through the whole set.

Next up was Band of Horses. I was looking forward to hearing this band for the first time, because I had heard good things from other fans. They played a fantastic set. A very cool mix of southern charm and dark lyrics made this a wise choice of opener for My Morning Jacket. I was very impressed with the vocal style of lead singer Ben Bridwell. They seem to have quite the following too. There were several fans up at the front of the stage afterwards begging for someone in the crew to hand over the set list. One very excited fan got his wish and ran off joyously with the set list in hand. Now this audience was raring to go. Red Rocks was packed with an almost sold out crowd filled with a fun mix of people who were all having a really good time at this show.

When My Morning Jacket took the stage, the evening took and deep and powerful turn, in a very cool direction. This band is intense. Their style is very dramatic with beautiful lyrics, heavy baselines, a ridiculously good drummer, and a stunning vocal range from lead singer Jim James. The show had deep dark songs, along with light and beautiful celestial moments as well. It Beats for You, the Bear, a beautiful Jim James solo Bermuda Highway, just to name a few, shows the range of emotional feeling that My Morning Jacket crosses over. Aside from their brilliant song writing, they also showed off their ability to choose exciting cover songs, and play them with their own style. I personally adored their version of Velvet underground’s Oh Sweet Nuthin’. There were rumors floating around earlier in the night that John Oates from Hall and Oates was to make a guest appearance. It seemed like an odd paring, and I had a hard time imagining how that would happen, and it what it would sound like. Sure enough, the crowd was pleasantly rewarded when John Oates and Trombone Shorty joined the band on stage for Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up. It was an impressive performance by all.

This show had everything. Each band built perfectly onto the next one. And the crowd loved every minute of it. This audience didn’t want it to end and I don’t think band did either. They played very late and showed their fans a really good time. I definitely plan to see My Morning Jacket the next time they come to Colorado; and I recommend anyone who has not seen them, to give them a try. This is something different, something really different. There is no other band out there today, that sounds like this band. Their latest studio album, Circuital is amazing and I suggest checking it out. However to really see this band shine; you need to go to a live show. Their live performances are absolutely breathtaking. The music, the gorgeous light show and the unexpected cover songs, will make you want to come back for more, because you never know what they will do next.

Please enjoy my photo essay from the evening.

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