My Morning Jacket with Avi Buffalo

(Greek Theater, Los Angeles, August 12 2010)

Perfect for the inebriated summer-lovers of Los Angeles, the Greek Theater hosted a wonderful night of rock music yesterday, featuring the beloved folk/jam band, "My Morning Jacket".

And perfect it truly was—not only was it a beautiful summer night meant to be spent outdoors, but the Greek lends itself wonderfully to the large fan base of My Morning Jacket with a plentitude of seats and more than enough room for the waving arms of those who get high off of jammy rock-star song endings.

The fledgling indie stars, Avi Buffalo, opened the show—quite impressively, I might add. They began their set with “Summer Cum,” a gentle, spritely tune from their debut album.

On stage, lead singer Avi is short and, frankly, precious. And when the sensitive-yet-sophisticated innocence of his voice and melodies came through the speakers, it was the most delightful surprise. He’s also a fantastic guitarist. He put his all into every solo, without a doubt.

The band is very true to their recordings, excepting some great, high-energy distortion build-ups towards the end of a couple tunes. All in all, a wonderful opener for My Morning Jacket. Their sound is multi-faceted and interesting enough to promise even greater songwriting in years to come—enough to impress the fans, but not enough to in any way compete with the main act.

My Morning Jacket’s set began with a slow, sultry jazz song coming from the speakers, uncomfortably reminiscent of a slow song from a school dance. Then the band came on stage, looking half-mountain men, half-Geek Squad. They eased into “At Dawn,” beginning with slow yet powerful drumming and a slight country feel (appropriate for their Kentucky roots, which they always seem to touch on, but never too strongly). 

As soon as the lights kicked into full gear, it was clear that this was going to be an impressive and high-energy show, more than worthy of the beautiful night. A big pair of eyeballs (I swear) was projected on stage between the two main beams of light. Yes, confusing. But considering that there was also a donkey statue on stage the size of a small person, it was also strangely appropriate.

Right from the beginning, Jim James’s voice was in tip-top shape: steady, on-key, smooth and strong in displaying his impressive range. The choir boy quality of his high tenor is similar to that of Fleet Foxes’s Robin Pecknold, but James has the years of experience to showcase his confidence a bit more.

In fact, it was the moments when Jim James was alone with his acoustic guitar that I found the most compelling. When going solo with his folk roots, he has the ability to really highlight the vulnerable and eerie qualities of his voice. He showed the audience not only the physical range of his voice, but the emotional range.

But the band took long breaks from their folk-y side in order to make the most of the high-energy amphitheater. For songs like “Dancefloors,” nearly the entire arena had a blast singing along and swaying back and forth in tipsy delight. As time went on and the momentum continued to build, the audience began to chant, “Turn it up! Turn it up! For the love of God, turn it up!” But realistically, nothing would have been loud enough for the biggest fans.

I do wonder if fans of My Morning Jacket tend to also be fans of Phish, as a lot of this show felt very “jammy.” Nearly every upbeat song had a drawn-out, rock star ending that the crowd seemed to eat up. Personally, I’m not the hugest fan of these kinds of endings, at least not more than once per show (seriously, once). Only so much of my mental energy can be spent enjoying a drum breakdown that immediately builds back up for an über-rock star finish.

Although, two solid hours is a pretty freaky long time to hold an audience’s attention, and My Morning Jacket did a fantastic job with their dedicated fans. And maybe it was the frequent superstar endings that did the job, because everyone seemed to walk away more than satisfied with My Morning Jacket’s seasoned expertise. A great performance—our last hurrah—to mark our transition back into Fall.

Reach reporter Kelly Baron here.