Another Barnburner On The Farm: My Morning Jacket Debuts Kate Bush & Traffic Covers At Bonnaroo 2023

My Morning Jacket returned to the scene of some of their greatest triumphs on Saturday night when they played a late-night show at the 2023 Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tennessee. The band delivered a marathon 23-song performance on Which Stage that included first-time covers of Kate Bush‘s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” and Traffic’s “Feelin’ Alright?”

After making their debut at the festival in 2003 and unleashing a monumental performance at Bonnaroo 2004, Saturday’s set was My Morning Jacket’s eighth on The Farm in rural Tennessee. Frontman Jim James and his bandmates kicked off the nearly three-hour performance with “Mahgeetah,” the same song used to start the aforementioned 2004 set chronicled on the recently released MMJ Live Vol. 3: Bonnaroo 2004 (Return to Thunderdome) live archival album.

“Mahgeetah” is one of six songs featured on My Morning Jacket’s 2003 LP It Still Moves to make their setlist at Bonnaroo 2023. Others were the beloved “Golden,” a wild and psych-tinged “Dancefloors,” “Steam Engine” complete with drum outro, set-closing “Run Thru” and the anthemic “One Big Holiday.” The latter ended the night (morning?) as part of the evening’s encore along with “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 1” and “Lay Low.” In addition to “Lay Low,” 2005’s Z was represented at ‘Roo ’23 by a run of “Gideon,” “Off The Record” and “Wordless Chorus” that followed the opening song with “Evil Urges” falling between the last two mentioned.

“Evil Urges,” the title track to MMJ’s 2008 album, was the newest of the first five songs played. The group then treated fans to “Lucky To Be Alive” from their self-titled 2021 LP before “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 2” gave way to “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God).” Originally released by Kate Bush as the lead single off 1985’s Hounds Of Love, “Running Up That Hill” scored the legendary British singer a second run on the charts last year thanks to its inclusion in the fourth season of Netflix series Stranger Things. James impressively helmed the cover debut which fit Jacket’s sound like a glove.

!function ($) {

$(function(){ // document ready

$(‘.video-sticky’).stickybits(
{
stickyBitStickyOffset: getNavbarsHeight()
}
);

});

}(window.jQuery);

.video-content .panel-body {
padding-top:40px;
padding-bottom:40px;
}
.video-sticky {
z-index: 999;
background-color: #fcfcfc;
}
.honorable-mentions {
padding-left: 0;
margin-left: 1.375em;
}
.honorable-mentions li {
margin-bottom:5px;
}
.honorable-mentions .fa-li {
margin-top:-2px;
}

.video-summary-wrap table.glance-table.jambase-videos-songs-table{
background-color: #e2e8ef;
}

My Morning Jacket looked to their sophomore studio album, 2001’s At Dawn, a few songs later for “Phone Went West.” The evening’s lone At Dawn tune included a tribute to the late Christine McVie as Jim James worked in lyrics from the longtime Fleetwood Mac keyboardist/vocalist’s signature song, “Songbird.” Next up was the aforementioned jammed-out “Dancefloors” and debut “Feelin’ Alright?” cover. Dave Mason penned “Feelin’ Alright?” which was first released by Traffic in 1968 and then as “Feeling Alright” by Joe Cocker the following year.

The last quarter of MMJ’s Bonnaroo 2023 set started with Evil Urges gem “Holdin’ On To Black Metal” and also featured the title track off 2011’s Circuital, My Morning Jacket standout “Love Love Love,” The Waterfall chestnut “Spring (Among The Living)” and “Run Thru.” The song was a fitting selection to end the set as the band had run through their alloted two-hour scheduled set time and still came back for a three-song encore.

My Morning Jacket continues their 2023 US Tour at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota on Tuesday. Find a complete list of dates by scrolling below.

Setlist

Source: JamBase.com