Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Do-Over

As those who read my Bonnaroo coverage are aware, Louisville's own My Morning Jacket turned in a legendary performance on the Friday night of the festival, and Joker and I missed a large chunk of it, creating really our only real regret of the weekend.

Well, that's been bugging me for two months, so I decided to take a do-over. The band's homecoming show at Louisville's Waterfront Park (which, by all accounts, was stellar) coincided with Saturday's STP concert to which we already had tickets, so I decided to get bold, and I went to the band's Friday-night show in Nashville (hometown of guitarist Carl Broemel), at their Riverfront Park. I could not be happier with that choice.

Frankly, I enjoyed the show so much I'm not sure Louisville would have been better. Due to the layout of the park, I had an ideal vantage point, not too far (near the soundboard) and with no obstruction of my view, thanks to the park's stair-stepped plateau formation. The music was incredible, the light show was fantastic, and the environment provided some of the best moments of all. The General Jackson riverboat cruised by behind the stage a couple of times, and the Tennessee Titans preseason NFL game right across the river offered up occasional touchdown-celebrating fireworks, and eventually, a long game-ending fireworks extravaganza, serendipitously exploding during the band's encore performance of "War Begun." On top of that, there was more brief excitement during that song as some obnoxious jackass decided to climb the scaffolding of the stage. Not a moment I'm soon to forget.

Wanna see it? Unsurprisingly, someone got it on YouTube by the next morning:



Crazy.

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