With only fifteen songs under their belt, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Monsters Of Folk in Santa Barbara at the Granada. With such talent as Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes and Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band), M. Ward, and Jim James (of My Morning Jacket), the show was sure to be a success. They ended up playing songs from their late debut album “Monsters of Folk,” but each of the individual artists played songs from their individual bands.
M. Ward played warm glowing songs both on the electric and acoustic guitar. I was especially excited to hear him play “Poison Cup,” as that song has enormous meaning for me.
Conor sounded especially good playing We Are Nowhere and It’s Now. The emotional tones of his Bright Eye’s CDs are only augmented in his live performances. I don’t know how one can listen to him with dry eyes with such lines as:
And like a ten minute dream in the passenger’s seat
While the world was flying by
I haven’t been gone very long
But it feels like a lifetime
Jim James sings with equal emotion. I am not as familiar with My Morning Jacket’s albums (beyond It Still Moves), but his performance tonight certainly encouraged me to buy more of his music. If you are debating whether to go see them, this was probably one of my favorite concerts of all time.
See some pictures of the concert here (I would repost them here, but the author doesn’t want them widely distributed). The pictures are quite good!
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