My Morning Jacket kicked off their tour Tuesday (4/1) by performing the entirety of their recently released album, Is, plus assorted hits from their deep catalogue.
Rocking out at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga, Tennessee, MMJ live debuted the remaining six songs from Is they didn't unveil on SiriusXM in February in LA.
It's a setlist big cities may not see this year.
When the was tour was announced, the veteran band took a page out of Metallica's playbook and promised they would honor fans going to more than one gig in a town and refrain from doing the same tunes.
"NO REPEAT SONGS for multi-night runs in a city," the statement read, in part, "meaning that each night will be a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SETLIST!
This is the clarification that Tool fans would have liked last month.
So that means if they played "Beginning From the Ending", "Circuital", "Die for It", "I Can Hear Your Love", "Out in the Open", and "River Road" - the songs they live debuted Tuesday - on the first night of their upcoming three night run in Brooklyn, they can't play any of them the next two nights there.
Since Is is the band's 10th studio album, they should have no problems coming up with 22-song sets like they did at the kick off.
Yes, Is is a tough album to talk or write about. Most two-letter verbs are like that.
But it's also far less clunky than if the Louisville natives called it third person singular present tense of the verb "to be."
As odd as the title is, MMJ are now in good company of other artists who have named their albums with two-letter words:
AM – Arctic Monkeys (2013, Domino Recording Company)
At – The Bad Plus (2007, Heads Up International)
Be – Common (2005, Geffen Records)
It – Pulp (1983, Red Rhino Records)
No! – They Might Be Giants (2002, Rounder Records)
So – Peter Gabriel (1986, Charisma Records)
Up – Right Said Fred (1992, Charisma Records)
Up! – Shania Twain (2002, Mercury Nashville)
Us – Peter Gabriel (1992, Real World Records)
We – Arcade Fire (2022, Columbia Records)
XO – Elliott Smith (1998, DreamWorks Records)
Jo Jo is correct to call Is "easy rock." It's flavorful without startling you or force you out of your comfort zone.
The album is produced by Brendan O’Brien who worked on records by STP, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen, and Rage Against The Machine, among others.
Is is the first time singer Jim James didn't either produce or co-produce one of his band's records, which he says took away some of the pressure.
“Up until now I’ve never been able to let go and allow someone else to steer the ship,” James said in a statement. “It almost felt like an out-of-body experience to step back and give control over to someone who’s far more accomplished and made so many more records than us, but in the end I was able to enjoy the process maybe more than I ever have before.”
Don't be too surprised if on this tour, which takes place in three chunks throughout the year, MMJ pulls out some more live debuts of songs that were written for the album but didn't end up on the wax.
James told the Grammys the group consisting of Tom Blankenship (bass), Carl Broemel (lead guitar), Patrick Hallahan (drums), and Bo Koster (keys), had 100 ideas they whittled down to just ten.
"There were a few songs that we cut for this record that everybody thought would be the best — and they didn't even make it." he said. That's such an interesting part of the whole thing."
MMJ are in Florida this weekend for their One Big Holiday trio of gigs. They will be back in Kentucky in a few weeks for a series of five shows in their hometown.
Those setlists will be fascinating to see thanks to their no-repeat rule. See first hand how they handle that be they deep cuts, covers, or some of those live debuts of unreleased music: go to My Morning Jacket's site for tickets.
My Morning Jacket 2025 Is Tour Dates:
April 1 – Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Auditorium – Chattanooga, Tenn. #
April 3-5 – My Morning Jacket’s One Big Holiday – Miramar Beach, Fla. *
April 8 – Alabama Theatre – Birmingham, Ala. ^
April 10 – Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park – Austin, Texas ^
April 12 – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory – Dallas ^
April 13 – 713 Music Hall – Houston, Texas ^
April 15 – Orpheum Theatre – Memphis, Tenn. ^
April 17 – Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium – Athens, Ohio ^
April 18 – The Riverside Theater – Milwaukee ^
April 20 – The Armory – Minneapolis ^
April 21 – Uptown Theater – Kansas City, Mo. ^
April 25 – The Louisville Palace – Louisville, Ky. %
April 26 – The Louisville Palace – Louisville, Ky. ~
April 27 – The Louisville Palace – Louisville, Ky. @
April 29 – The Louisville Palace – Louisville, Ky. +
April 30 – The Louisville Palace – Louisville, Ky. #
May 2 – The Factory at The District – St. Louis #
May 4 – New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival – New Orleans *
Aug. 5 – Hayden Homes Amphitheater – Bend, Ore.
Aug. 6 – Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater – Nampa, Idaho
Aug. 8 – KettleHouse Amphitheater – Bonner, Mont.
Aug. 9 – Chateau St. Michelle Winery – Woodinville, Wash.
Aug. 13 – Dillon Amphitheater – Dillon, Colo.
Aug. 15 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, Colo.
Aug. 16 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, Colo
Aug. 19 – Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles,
Aug. 20 – Santa Barbara Bowl – Santa Barbara, Calif.
Aug. 22 – The Greek Theatre – Berkeley, Calif.
Oct. 8 – The Anthem – Washington, D.C.
Oct. 10 – The Met – Philadelphia
Oct. 11 – The Met – Philadelphia
Oct. 13 – MGM Music Hall at Fenway – Boston
Oct. 14 – State Theatre – Portland, Maine
Oct. 16 – Brooklyn Paramount – Brooklyn, N.Y.
Oct. 17 – Brooklyn Paramount – Brooklyn, N.Y.
Oct. 18 – Brooklyn Paramount – Brooklyn, N.Y.
Oct. 20 – MegaCorp Pavilion – Newport, Ky.
Oct. 22 – The Sylvee – Madison, Wis.
Oct. 24 – The Salt Shed – Chicago
Oct. 25 – The Salt Shed – Chicago
Oct. 26 – The Salt Shed – Chicago
Oct. 29 – The Pinnacle – Nashville, Tenn.
Oct. 31 – Fox Theatre – Atlanta
Nov. 1 – Fox Theatre – Atlanta
* Festival
# w/ Bendigo Fletcher
^ w/ Grace Cummings
% w/ Lacey Guthrie
~ w/ Future Killer
@ w/ The Jesse Lees
+ w/ 10th Street Dre and Maggie Halfman
