There were only five guys on stage for Thursday night's My Morning Jacket concert at the Orpheum Theatre, but a sixth person also played an integral role: the lighting director.
A 2 1/2-hour concert that zoomed along like a Tilt-a-Whirl ride, the sold-out show was truly a luminous affair. It seemed as if every one of the Kentucky rock quintet's musical notes was matched by some kind of visual crescendo from the arsenal of swirling, spinning, flashing or just plain pretty lighting rigs that engulfed the stage.
If the band zigged, the lights zagged. If they delivered one of their marvelous, stop-on-a-dime time changes or abrupt climaxes, the lights were right there with them. It was the kind of optical overture typically reserved for boy bands or metal groups without much else to offer. But when paired with a group as tremendous as MMJ, it made for an epic rock show.
A group of hippie-ish good ol' boys who look as if they came off Dwight Schrute's beet farm on NBC's "The Office," My Morning Jacket is one odd bird of a band. But it proved Thursday that it takes flight like few others on stage.
The range of musical influences heard in the set was probably oddest of all. Songs could be traced back to everything from the Flying Burrito Brothers (the second and third songs "Golden" and "Sec Walkin' ") to Michael Jackson (the heartbeaty "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream, Pt. 2") and the Replacements ("The Way That He Sings") to Joe Walsh ("I'm Amazed"), with the Band, the Who, Sonic Youth and even the almighty "Freebird" heard along the way.
Despite that vast mish-mash, the concert came off as amazingly cohesive. The reason was the sheer power of singer/guitarist Jim James' talent.
As frontmen go, James can do it all (except maybe get a modeling gig). His guitar playing was monstrous in "Magheetah" and an extended "Off the Record," but he also pulled off many subtly gorgeous interludes with fellow six-stringer Carl Broemel. He sang like an angelic bird in mellower gems such as "Thank You Too," but he also effectively howled like a banshee in "Evil Urges." He even proved to be a decent showman when he donned a pimp-daddy-ish cape in lieu of a guitar for "Wordless Chorus" and a few more.
Any show this long is bound to have a lull. One finally came with the languid "Librarian" and "Steam Engine." But it just seemed like a breather before the breathless encore, which included the jarring funk-rocker "Highly Suspicious" and finished with the group's best tunes, "Anytime" and "One Big Holiday." Call it a lights-out knock-out.
See MMJ's full set list at startribune.com/poplife. chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658
