Devendra Banhart & Hairy Fairy @ Webster Hall

There was a very big family vibe last night at Webster Hall. It may be because Devendra mentioned "the Family" about a dozen times or it may be because a large amount of the family were there. Last nights show felt Devendra was holding a party for all his friends and family were invited. One of the great things about Devendra live performance is his ability to act as the host. Devendra is often egger to share the stage with his band mates and even members of the audience. Hairy Fairy are as important to Devendra s he is to them. One can easily draw comparison between Devednra's Hairy Fairy and Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. And if Devendra is Dylan than Andy Cabic must be Rambling Jack Elliot. Andy and Devendra have toured a lot together and he continues to be an important part of Devendra's show. Andy Cabic performed one his songs last night that was amazing. In many ways last nights show was a big success of Devendra it was his biggest New York City show to date and the crowd responded very well to it. I was very pleased to see the large crowd at Webster Hall enjoying themselves. However there were also a lot of flaws with last nights show. Sometimes it seems as if Devendra is more concerned with having fun than with how the music actually sounds. And last night was one of these times. Although some of the songs were better than they were at CMJ a few weeks ago others seemed to be a little sloppy. But I will not hold this against him, overall the show was very fun and I continue to believe that only better thing lie ahead for the leader of this freaky family of folk musicians. On my new rating scale I give this show 2 socks rocked off. Which means it was good and fun, but of the 8 times I have seen Devendra perform it was not the best.




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My Morning Jacket @ Webster Hall

New York am asked My Morning Jacket keyboardist Bo Koster "What can we expect from your show tomorrow?" and Bo responded "Expect to come and have your face melted." Well that is exactly what happened on Tuesday night. At the end of My Morning Jacket's sold out show at Webster Hall, I looked around and there were hundreds of people standing in puddles of their own faces. Most of these people were also looking for their sock which were rocked off at some point during the show.
Again MMJ opened with "Wordless Chorus" while the stage was completely dark, but when Jim started to sing the "ohh ohh" part a series of strobe lights went off. The crowd was immediately stirred into a frenzy. They again followed the opener with "It beats for you" and "Gideon". But it wasn't until the fourth song, "One Big Holiday" that the crowd absolutely let lose and went crazy. Tuesday nights show also saw Jim bust out the Omni chord for "Sooner" which sounded great. The band also extended the intro for "Off the Record" and it sounds great very spooky before the "Hawaii Five-O" guitar comes in. "Dondante" is also becoming a great song for them to perform live and just sounds better and better each time I see them perform it. They also opened the Encore with "At Dawn" which is one of my favorite songs. Although the set list didn't change that much from Boston. I felt that Tuesday nights show had a higher level of energy. Overall it was another great show by My Morning Jacket. They will also be returning to New York on New Year's Eve to perform with The Black Crowes at Madison Square Garden





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My Morning Jacket @ Avalon

My Morning Jacket show on Saturday night at the Avalon left with seriously melted face and with sock rocked completely off. They played through a mixture of both old a new material. They began with "wordless Chorus" while the stage was completely dark. Jim’s amazing voice coming out of complete darkness was breath taking. They then proceed to play the following two tracks from "Z" which are "It Beats for You" and "Gideon". All of these new songs got a pretty good response from the crowd but when the opening notes of "One Big Holiday" started the crowd went wild. And the band didn’t let up. Next they went into one of my personal favorite "O is the One". This version was great there was a very high level of energy in the room at this point. The energy between the band the audience just continued to grow as the night went on. The band was even joined by Kathleen Edwards for "Golden". The band end their set with a great three song punch of "Lay Low" which just sounds amazing live, "Dondante" which is just a totally amazing song, and of course "Run Thru" which drove the crowd into a frenzy. My only complaint about this show was that the Avalon becomes a nightclub after the bands play so the show was over at 9:30. Overall I had a great time and I expect their show at sold out show at Webster Hall on Tuesday to be amazing.
Set List:
Wordless Chorus, It Beats For You, Gideon, One Big Holiday, O is the One The Way He Sings. Golden, What a Wonderful Man, Off the Record, Lay Low Dondante, Run Thru
Encore
Just One Thing, How Could I Know, Mahgeetah, Anytime




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