Bluesfest: My Morning Jacket

I finished my Wednesday off by watching a blistering live show from My Morning Jacket. As an aside I remember in the first few years I went to Bluesfest I saw a bunch of great soul acts as main stage headliners (Al Green and Smokey Robinson being particularly memorable). Then for a bunch of years only a few main stagers tickled my fancy - the New York Dolls and ZZ Top, to mention two. That was definitely the case for the two years I spent planted at the Birdman Stage. Anyway, in 2010 and 2011 I've found more to like on the mainstage. I suspect this is because the acts I liked in the 1990s, such as The Flaming Lips and Weezer, have become big enough deals to get top billing, and due to a generational shift. Or to put it in other words, I am old(er) and folks my age are now festival programmers. Anyway, folks like My Morning Jacket certainly demand the main stage, though I suspect Buddy Guy - who was off on the Subway Stage - might have been a bigger draw. This set was up there with The Lips and Arcade Fire in 2010 for sheer rocking out.

Jim James and his thingamabob.



Tom Blankenship looking natty on bass.



Widescreen action! You can just make out drummer Patrick Hallahan at right.



Hazy action with keyboardist Bo Koster!



The crowd goes wild!



Guitarist Carl Broemel is somewhat visible at left.



He's much easier to get a good snap of in sepia.



Rhythm section action!



Rocking about!



And there you go. Awesome show. They wrap up some European dates tonigh then do some U.S> touring before hibernating for the winter.

• Show reminder: John Allaire releases his new album at Irene's; Ornaments also have a brand new CD, which they intend to share with the Elmdale in the company of Glenn Nuotio, The Ticket, and The Superlative; Rolf Klausener, Michael Dubue and My Dad Vs. Yours perform at St. Brigids; The Time Machine Millionaires, Sick Sick Sicks and The Lost Cause shake it at the Clocktower Pub; Benevenstanciano, Knives and Forks For Freedom, Machine Gun Dolly and Skullians rock The Rainbow; Old Crowns and Janes Party play Zaphod Beeblerox; Birdie Whyte busts out the banjo at Raw Sugar with  The Elizabeth Riley Band and Of Two Minds; The Antipathies are against it at The Avant-Garde.