Concert review: My Morning Jacket at Rabbit Rabbit + The Mountain Goats at The Orange Peel

Only a year ago, the concept of there being so many concerts happening on the same night in Asheville that it’d be challenging to commit to just one seemed laughable. At that point, it was hard to even imagine that people would be willing to gather en masse with regularity just to watch live music. 

Yet Asheville music lovers were met with an overabundance of options on Sept. 22. My Morning Jacket was at Rabbit Rabbit, Shakey Graves at Salvage Station, Mountain Goats at The Orange Peel, Lydia Lunch at Fleetwood’s, and The Veldt was at 27 Club. For a Thursday night, it seemed like it might be too much for the small city to handle. 

Conflicted by the choices, I opted to join the thousands in attendance at Rabbit Rabbit for Louisville alt-country titans My Morning Jacket. Opening the evening with a brief but delightful performance was singer/songwriter Joy Oladokun, whose music recalled the charming pop soul of Tracy Chapman. A rousing cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Oladokun and her backing trio was an unexpected treat, aimed straight at the nostalgic heart of the crowd.

My Morning Jacket eased into its set, digging deep into its past to open with “The Dark,” from its 1999 debut, The Tennessee Fire. The ensemble sounded terrific, but it wasn’t until its third song, the title track from  2011’s, Circuital, that the players truly displayed why they’re such a beloved live band. Frontman Jim James’ golden voice soared over the quintet’s unique formula of cosmic Americana that has earned them apt comparisons to an American Radiohead.

Having not followed MMJ’s output from the past decade nearly as much as its previous records, it was a treat to hear the group play as many cuts from It Still Moves, Z, and Evil Urges as it did. The towering renditions of “Mahgeetah” and “Off The Record” were especially magical. 

But as the performance progressed, my focus drifted slightly. A man walked by telling his friend about how he had just “awkwardly touched bellies with another guy.” Then, moments later, a young blonde woman asked my friends and me if we wanted to do blow, before proceeding to tell a bad dirty joke. Failing to receive the attention she desired, the woman was then drawn towards a man a few rows up who proved to be more inviting. 

With our attention a bit shattered and a pair of tickets to see The Mountain Goats in possession, we opted to forgo the final hour of My Morning Jacket in favor of John Darnielle’s long running folk rock ensemble, who were scheduled to take the stage at just past 9 p.m. As someone who’s far from an MMJ superfan, 90 minutes was plenty fulfilling, though I do wish I could have caught the grand finale of “Gideon.” 

Arriving at The Orange Peel with just minutes to spare, we were able to catch all of The Mountain Goats’ set. Touring in support of the recently released Bleed Out — a guitar-heavy album, lovingly inspired by action films — the quartet rocked harder than it did a year ago at the very same Asheville venue. It’s always good to see how veteran bands push themselves to give fans a worthwhile experience every time they come to town, rather than just provide more of the same. 

Bleed Out tunes “Make You Suffer” and “Mark On You” felt like immediate entries into the tour song rotation for years to come, and Matt Douglas’ sax on “Guys on Every Corner” was a highlight of the night. 

Midway through the set, with his backing band taking a brief break, Darnielle performed solo, treating fans to a pair of songs — “Running Away with What Freud Said” and “Solomon Revisited” — from his debut cassette, Taboo VI: The Homecoming (1991). The veteran singer/songwriter always seems to work deep cuts into his sets, providing die-hard fans with a great reason to continue attending shows.

If the more casual listeners in attendance were concerned that it’d be a night of new songs and deep cuts, they had little to worry about. The second half of the band’s set included such favorites as “Damn These Vampires,” “The Diaz Brothers,” and “Up The Wolves,” while the encore featured a one-two punch of the band’s two biggest hits, “No Children” and “This Year.”

For an artist with a discography as deep as The Mountain Goats’, it has to be difficult to decide what to play night after night, but Darnielle consistently does a phenomenal job of mixing things up. 

As we exited The Orange Peel, having already experienced an incredible evening of live music, my originally planned quest to additionally catch The Veldt’s late night set at 27 Club would have to be nixed in favor of a warm bed and much needed rest. In an enduring war between exhaustion and FOMO, exhaustion once again reigned supreme. 

Although those who stayed for the entirety of My Morning Jacket’s set may argue that we made a mistake in missing what was surely a superb final hour, I harbor no regret because trading that hour for The Mountain Goats was a win-win decision.

(Photos by Jonny Leather)

Video by Edwin Arnaudin