My Morning Jacket live at the Khyber, Philadelphia, PA, April 4, 2002

Review as posted on the My Morning Jacket mailinglist:

Subject:        [mymorningjacket] Philly show
Date:           Fri, 05 Apr 2002 09:57:34 -0500
From:           Douglas C. Sell
To:             mymorningjacket@yahoogroups.com

The Philly show was packed last night. Lots of anticipation. But first, can
I just say what an absolute joy Swearing At Motorists were? Fucking kick
ass. And his voice is awesome. And he is funny as hell. Apparently, he
and/or the drummer are originally from Philly, so there was a lot of
interplay with local friends in the audience. They were great.

On to MMJ. I must say, the playing was stellar (as always) but the reverb
was out of control. Maybe it sounded worse because I was upfront this time
(I think that is true even more now reading the previous post about the
Atlanta show), but Jim's vocals were pretty much reverbed to the point of
completely being drowned out. That was kind of disapointing. And the guitars
didn't give any room for his voice because they were up so loud. Also, I was
hoping for some of the stuff off the new EPs that are out, but to no avail.

All in all, it was a great time and a good show, but the sound just wasn't
at its best. He didn't do his trademark "Conk" sound check in the beginning
(that I saw). Maybe that had something to do with it.

As a side not, Jim came out wearing some kind of hippie/religious shirt
thing that went down near his bare feet. Is it called a mumu? Like what
Homer Simpson once wore? I don't know, but it was interesting.

The friend I took really liked the show. And Jim encored solo which included
"Caught In A Trap And I Can't Walk Out Cuz I Love You Too Much, Baby."
Mesmerizing stuff that was.

Have a good weekend.

Doug S.

My Morning Jacket Live 2002