My Morning Jacket Loads 1st 3 Shows Of Louisville Run With Rarities & Cover Debuts

This past weekend, My Morning Jacket held the first three concerts of a five-show hometown celebration at The Louisville Palace Theater. My Morning Jacket promised no repeated songs across the five “Come Home Again: A Celebration Of Louisville” shows that include performances on Tuesday, April 29 and Wednesday, April 30.

My Morning Jacket formed in Louisville in 1998. The band was honored with a special banner recognizing their deep history with the city.

On opening night, My Morning Jacket was supported by Lacey Guthrie, who was brought back to join frontman Jim James on a cover of Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away.” Later in the set, Jacket broke out the rarely played “I Feel The Earth Move” by Carole King and “Feelin’ Alright?” by Traffic.

Friday also featured the tour debut of “Evelyn Is Not Real” from the band’s 1999 debut album, The Tennessee Fire. “Librarian” from 2008’s Evil Urges made its first appearance of 2025 at the start of the encore.

Saturday’s first Jacket setlist surprise came early in the show when they played Prince’s “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” for the first time since 2016. Saturday’s primary set ended with a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “One More Saturday Night.” Pet Shop Boys’ “West End Girls” was chosen as part of the encore.

The middle show featured James altering the lyrics to “The Bear” to reference the celebratory occasion. A +20-minute “Dondante” anchored the set, ahead of tour debuts of “Knot Comes Loose” from 2005’ s Z and, during the encore, “Highly Suspicious” from Evil Urges. An issue with the stage power made for a crowd sing-along as James delivered an unplugged “Bermuda Highway.”

James and drummer Patrick Hallahan added their shared birthday to the celebration on Sunday. Guitarist Carl Broemel got to show off his original song, “Carried Away,” which was one of several 2025 debuts filling the third show setlist.

A full-on debut came in the form of “Still Thinkin” as the The Waterfall II song had not been played live before. An unfinished “Cobra” led into “Miss You” by The Rolling Stones, who would be covered again as part of the encore.

The rarely played At Dawn track “I Needed It Most” began Sunday’s encore. Successive cover debuts came next as MMJ premiered “Homeward Bound” by Simon & Garfunkel and “Mr. Tambourine Man” by Bob Dylan. The night ended with The Stones’ joyful “Happy.”

Official soundboard audio of Friday and Saturday’s My Morning Jacket hometown Louisville shows is available to nugs.net subscribers. Sunday’s Palace Theater concert and the final two MMJ hometown Louisville shows will be available soon.