Live Review: My Morning Jacket - O2 Ritz, Manchester 31/05/2023
After an eight-year wait, it was finally time for UK fans to once again sing along to a Wordless Chorus with one of America’s most thrilling all-round rock outfits, My Morning Jacket.
Being one of only two dates in the UK, following a successful comeback in London just the night before, the Kentucky five-piece took to the northwest stage to bring their very own experimental rock once again to the Manchester masses and the welcome back was warm and endearingly hazy.
Opening the night was soul artist Devon Gilfillian. Getting the moving and grooving going within the O2 Ritz hall as the fans slowly filled the spaces, it’s always a daunting task to open for any act with an immense following or a greatly anticipated appearance; such as that of My Morning Jacket’s due to the wait some fans may have faced to see (or once again see) their all-time favourite artists live and thriving. However, it seemed Gilfillian was up for the challenge and took it on voice first.
Gilfillian came across as a likeable personality outside of his musical calling, simply through his wholesome and more personable approach to being with the crowd before him. This was confirmed when he took a short break between songs to sing a melodically soulful ‘happy birthday’ to his girlfriend who was residing at his merchandise stand - a moment that always makes the audience feel happy and enlightened to be a part of, even if they are unaware of the artist on stage or the person they are directing the celebratory gesture towards. It’s a moment where it did not matter if anyone knew who Devon Gilfillian was, or if anyone heard his name or his music before that very night. There is always a demographic of a concert’s audience that is won over by a kind and simple soul alone, and this was a trick that Gilfillian took advantage of.
There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that at least someone left that show a fan of his; and maybe after some time, will grow to also enjoy the music as much as his charming stage personality.
As the crowd flowed in and the room flooded, the house lights went down and the spotlights were in position. For the first time in eight years, it was time for Manchester to introduce My Morning Jacket.
Through what can be interpreted as a classically bold move by the band, they kicked the night off with their career-defining single ‘Wordless Chorus’. A hit that brought them to the attention of the entire music industry, it shook things up as this was their closing number the night before in the capital. Nevertheless it was obvious that placement within the set would matter the least, as the song still got the entire room singing and swaying. Blasting the technicolour light show during the title chorus, the room filled with a harmony that would never be replicated by other acts. The bond in those vocalised stanzas between frontman Jim James and his dedicated fans is one that has only grown stronger and dug deeper into their hearts as the years have passed.
As true as this can be with any other band or any other instrumentalist, there will never be an artist who walks the way James walks and talks the way James talks in this world.
This was only the beginning of a night that would feel shorter than it would run for. Managing to keep the beats flowing for over two hours, it was fleeting and flew past in what could have been felt as minutes. Moments coming and going, sounds going up and riffs breaking it down. As an act that toyed with the themes and elements of psychedelic rock, they brought everyone into this soft-rock, folk-feeling trip around the mind, heart and soul. Taking breaks to bring the audience back to Earth with more traditionally rock tracks such as ‘I’m Amazed’ and ‘Off The Record’, the psychedelia of the entire night reached its peak with the performance of ‘Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt. 2’, which had everyone eager in waiting for its famous beat drop into enlightening harmonies from James and co. as it reaches its climax.
No large-scale group of people were tied together in harmony in one swift note than at that second. A crowd can come together during a metal band’s dirty guitar riff in a circle pit; pop acts can entertain their demographic with clapping in the air or shaking their bodies to the rhythms; there is so very rarely a moment as pure and as spiritual as a gig’s audience joining for just a sway and a singalong with a five-voice harmony. There is a sense of newness and succinct emotion. There is nothing else to want in that moment, and that is an example of the near unexplainable power of music among all. Old and young, new fans or veterans, everyone came together and that will always be remembered.
Closing the show with the stylish ‘Mahgeetah’ was how they were seeing the fans, the city and the UK out in the best way possible. With a night that felt like it could have lasted days, with a string of tunes that played like one complete medley, there was no telling when the end was coming. It was to sneak up and take hold when the music went silent, when the lights turned on, when the doors open and close once again. This was not a goodbye from the My Morning Jacket guys, but a “see you soon”. There will never be a goodbye, as they’ve proven with their recent return. They will always sail the sea, no matter how long it will be between visits.
As James said himself, everyone was happy to be alive in Manchester that night. May that joy last until the next British stint.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
Photography by Kate Derbyshire
