Recap My Morning Jacket at Riverside Theater 

About an hour into My Morning Jacket’s marathon 150-minute set last night at the Riverside Theater, frontman Jim James launched into a heartfelt “thank you,” and compared the Riverside to the room at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was a charming, off-the-cuff moment, and one of the few chances to catch a breath in a show that ultimately left the fawning crowd speechless. Indeed, it was hard to find the right words to describe the surprisingly spiritual (and loud) evening. “Mind-blowing” and “face-melting” immediately come to mind.

Opening with “Victory Dance” from the new Circuital, MMJ made it immediately clear why it’s one of the most powerful, blistering, and pitch-perfect live bands working today. James was decked out in a cloak and furry white moon boots, and was an unstoppable force throughout the entire evening. The singer played to the rafters—running the length of the stage, shaking his terrifying mane of hair, and occasionally hoisting his guitar over his head like an offering. During “Wordless Chorus,” he even pulled off a Springsteen-esque power slide. But unlike so many other bands that attempt these theatrics, nothing felt forced or self-conscious. This was some real-deal rock star shit.

The night’s set list was expansive, and it was hard to count the number of highlights: The huge “Steam Engine” from It Still Moves was one of many showstoppers, and the extended outro on the incredible “Off The Record” proved just how well MMJ can gel as a band. A mid-set performance of the new “Wonderful (The Way I Feel)”—sung as a duet with opener Daniel Martin Moore—was both unexpected and quietly moving.

But the night was far from an introspective think piece. A double finale culminating in the monster hit “One Big Holiday” brought things to a booming, strobe-light-drenched close. It was the perfect send-off to a night when every song was an event, and every performance was capable of making the reputation of a lesser band.