Ringing In 2009 With My Morning Jacket

Madison Square Garden was the place to be on New Year's Eve, as 13,000 folks utterly thrilled to kiss 2008 goodbye rocked their socks off with My Morning Jacket, playing their most high-profile headlining set to date. The group was up for the occasion and then some, offering choice covers, guest appearances, a variety of stylish outfits and plenty of theatrics to keep the crowd entertained.

The show opened on a jubilant note with a horn section-enhanced cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Move on Up" before moving quickly into ace originals such as "Evil Urges," "Off the Record" and "Gideon." Centro-Matic's Will Johnson sang alongside frontman Jim James on a beautiful "Golden," while singer/songwriter Nicole Atkins dueted with James on the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell staple "You're All I Need To Get By."

But MMJ really achieved liftoff during "Lay Low," the 13th song of the first set and the first to harness the harmonized guitar heroics of James and Carl Broemel (click here for some YouTube footage of the sick ending jam). A cover of Dion's "The Wanderer" (overheard in the bathroom: "These guys really cover a lot of territory!") and slamming versions of "Dancefloors" and "Mahgeetah" closed the first portion.

Now ducked out in white suits, the band returned to count down the last seconds of 2008 with its own special rendition of Kool & the Gang's "Celebration," as confetti and balloons poured down from the ceiling. Another Kool & the Gang favorite, "Get Down on It," led into "Wordless Chorus" and eventually a holy cow take on Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers' immortal "Islands in the Stream" (again with Atkins) and a beautiful cover of Sam Cooke's "Bring It on Home To Me."

MMJ did its best with James Brown's "Cold Sweat," which even featured a solo for drummer Patrick Hallahan, but it was ultimately one of the only missteps of the night. Furious runs through "Anytime" and "One Big Holiday" put an exclamation point on a great performance, with James warbling "Auld Lang Syne" from a mock living room set-up at the top of the stage for good measure.

Family and friends convened to a nearby Irish bar afterwards, and eventually, some of us made our way to Mercury Lounge to catch the last few songs of the Guns N' Roses cover band Mr. Brownstone, but the less said about that, the better. This was My Morning Jacket's night, and it won't soon be forgotten.

Here is My Morning Jacket's set list:

"Move on Up"
"Evil Urges"
"Off the Record"
"Gideon"
"The Way That He Sings"
"Thank You Too"
"I'm Amazed"
"Golden"
"Librarian"
"You're All I Need To Get By"
"Express Yourself"
"What a Wonderful Man"
"Lay Low"
"Phone Went West"
"Look At You"
"Dondante"
"Smokin' From Shootin'"
"Touch Me I'm Going To Scream, Pt. 2"
"Run Thru"
"The Wanderer"
"Dancefloors"
"Mahgeetah"

(set break)

"Celebration"
"Get Down on it"
"Wordless Chorus"
"Highly Suspicious"
"COBRA"
"Islands in the Stream"
"Bring It on Home To Me"
"Cold Sweat"
"Anytime"
"One Big Holiday"