My Morning Jacket was voted Best Live Act of 2011 for a reason. They deliver tender folk-tinged rock, dreamy alt pop, and arena bombast with high energy and precision accuracy. MMJ has enough balls to experiment with their delivery by exploring their own music with thunderous improvisational jams and pulling randomly from an ever-growing catalog of powerful songs from night-to-night. Stamp this high octane mixture with the gripping and expansive vocals of an enigmatic yet engaging frontman and you got yourself a rock show. Last night at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando, FL was no exception.
The setlist was excellent despite lacking some of the deep cuts surfacing at other stops on this tour such as “Strangulation,” “The Bear,” “Cobra,” and “Heartbreakin’ Man” to name a few (We did get “Bermuda Highway” though).
My videos are far from professionally shot. Most are done with a Canon Powershot from just about any vantage I could get. The video is meh, but the audio is actually pretty damn good because of the type of mic the Powershot has and where it is placed. The point is capture a moment from these concerts as a sort of keepsake.
And the Top 10 Most Viewed Videos Are …
#10:
Modest Mouse put on one hell of a show at the Hard Rock Live in June 2008. They were supporting We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank playing a good mix of new stuff with killer classics like “Paper Thin Walls,” “Custom Concern,” “Breakthrough,” and this song, “Trucker’s Atlas.”
VIEWS: 1,703
#9:
Tricephus, or Hank III, visits just about yearly to put on one of the coolest live spectacles on the planet. He starts with a set of country classics from his grandpa, Hank Willimas Sr. Next, he does a set of Psychobilly – a sort of roots country / hard rock / punk hybrid and ends the show with AssJack, a full-on hardcore / death metal shit show. This AssJack metal medley that includes Van Halen, Ministry, and Slayer comes in at number 9.
VIEWS: 1, 716
#8:
Thievery Corporation is known for their chill, eclectic, international sound, but they come at the audience full-force with a host of supporting musicians and performers in their live shows. This performance of “Sound the Alarm”- the first track on 2008′s Radio Retaliation – is from the 2008 VooDoo Music Fest in New Orleans.
VIEWS: 2,195
#7:
Phish took over Miami for New Year’s in 2009. Their loyal sandal-shaking fanbase will search out all media related to their shows. All the videos from New Year’s Eve got a lot of views, but “AC/DC Bag” blew them all away.
VIEWS: 2,359
#6:
Avi Buffalo is a band of pretty young kids that visited The Social several times thus far (with Rogue Wave and Blitzen Trapper). Their biggest and possibly best song, “What’s In It For?” is reflected in the amount of views here.
VIEWS: 2,411
#5:
LCD Soundsystem blew my mind with their show in October 2010 at Hard Rock Live. I was amazed at the raw power that this semi-electronic dance pop band brought. I’m glad to have the opportunity to interview Pat Mahoney and see James Murphy and the gang because it ended up being their last tour. They kicked the show off with “Dance Yrself Clean.” This is a video that sort of captures the essence of what I try to do. Although the angles aren’t pro-shot, the immersion in the audience translates the kinetic vibe of the show.
VIEWS: 4,908
#4:
The Tennessee 3 was Johnny Cash’s famous backing band. Orlando had the privilege of seeing these legendary musicians play a set for Anti*Pop 2007. I was hesitant because I thought without Cash’s infamous gravelly baritone it just wouldn’t work. Not true at all. Guitarist and long-time musical companion of Cash, Bob Wooten, had an uncanny vocal resemblance to The Man in Black himself. Truly Amazing. All of the video from that night was popular, but “I Was There / Luther Did the Boogie-Woogie” is way out in front of other classics caught that night like “I Walk the Line,” “Orange Blossom Special,” and “Ghostriders in the Sky.”
VIEWS: 5,762
#3:
Del tha Funkee Homosapien rocked The Social in January of 2010 with his unique flow. I also interviewed Del in 2009. His show at The Social was razor sharp as he dug through his prolific song book. He even did a version of “Clint Eastwood,” the Gorillaz song that brought him mainstream fame, but it was classic, rarely played “Mr. Dobalina” that brought all the hits.
VIEWS: 6,146
#2:
My Morning Jacket is one of the best live bands in existence right now. They are a band I will travel anywhere to see if I can. This video for “Victory Dance” was from their performance at the 2011 Hangout Fest. It was the opening track and the first time fans got to hear this song from Circuital which was not released at the time of the show. It’s a slow and creeping song that builds to a frenetic ending. Watch as the eager crowd goes berserk in the last 30 seconds as Jim James banshee cries wakes them up.
VIEWS: 7,544
#1:
This is crazy. I’m not sure how this happened (it was probably embedded on a much more popular site) but Surfer Blood and Pains of Being Pure at Heart did a show at Firestone in June of 2010. Surfer Blood ended by bringing PoBPaH back on stage to cover Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy.”
