My Morning Jacket: Okonokos - The Concert
(dir. Sam Erickson)
Sony BMG
As an accompaniment to their recent live album Okonokos, My Morning Jacket filmed their two night stint at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore as a DVD release, which also ran in limited cinemas.
Harking back to the classic days of the concert film, Okonokos is basically a straight live performance form the band, bookended with a mild narrative - the product of Jim James' wild imagination. While this doesn't really add much in terms of an actual narrative, it creates an atmosphere for the concert - which is clearly mirrored with the concept created for the show itself - a kind of victorian gentlemen's congregation in some bear infested wood. The crowd have generally entered into the swing of things, and they are rewarded with a stella performance from the band as usual.
The DVD's pitfall is the almost unavoidable trap set for all concert movies (yes, the Song Remains The Same included) where they rarely create the same atmosphere as actually being there. As far as these things go it is a good one - the bands' boundless enthusiasm is clear, and on mind blowing tracks like One Big Holiday and Lay Low, you do actually feel like you're there, on stage with the band in a guitar huddle. Plus you can watch animal-esqe drummer Patrick Hallahan doing his Steam Engine robotics in close-up.
The DVD is pretty much note for note the same as the CD (minus At Dawn, I Think I'm Going To Hell and Dancefloors), so really it's a case of one or another - and concert DVDs do work well as an audio-disc-with-visuals. There's no complaints on either format, and this live album and film serve their purpose well - as a (hopefully not too long) bridge between studio albums. Another well timed step from My Morning Jacket, as the band move on from there classic album Z hopefully onto bigger and better things.
Roll on 2007.
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