Watch My Morning Jacket Get ‘Spooky’ With Preservation Hall Jazz Band On Halloween In New Orleans

My Morning Jacket enlisted old pals the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to help close out their Halloween concert last night at the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans. Pres Hall shared the stage with Jacket for a six-song encore that included a fitting cover of Classics IV’s Halloween favorite “Spooky.”

The members of My Morning Jacket emerged for the show dressed as characters from the Nintendo videos game series Super Mario Bros. Keyboardist Bo Koster and guitarist Carl Broemel donned Mario and Luigi attire respectively, while guitarist Jim James appeared as Princess Peach, drummer Patrick Hallahan played Wario and bassist Tom Blankenship sported Toad gear. The band stepped to the front of the stage to show off their costumes while the theme song from the original Super Mario Bros. game played over the PA.

Jacket lit into Jim James’ solo cut “State Of The Art (A.E.I.O.U.)” to kick off their 21-song performance. The quintet went heavy on songs from 2011’s Circuital and 2008’s Evil Urges with five and four tunes off each album respectively. Opener Madi Diaz came out towards the middle of the main set to duet with Jim James on Evil Urges track “Thank You Too!,” a collaboration first presented in Boston last week.

The group’s Halloween show also included takes on “Lay Low,” “Off The Record” and “Wordless Chorus” off their 2005 LP Z. While last night’s show was not among the handful on the tour featuring complete performances of the band’s 2003 album It Still Moves in honor of the record’s 20th anniversary, Jacket coupled the LP’s “Mahgeetah” and “One Big Holiday” to end their main set in New Orleans.

When My Morning Jacket returned for the encore they were accompanied by NOLA’s own Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The six-song bonus frame began with a performance of Pres Hall original “Rattlin’ Bones” featuring trombonist Freddie Lonzo on lead vocals. Jim James then fronted MMJ’s second-ever take on “Spooky.” The five-piece debuted the Classics IV cover at their 2022 Halloween celebration in Louisville.

MMJ and Preservation Hall Jazz Band continued on with Jacket originals “Highly Suspicious” and “Holdin On To Black Metal” from Evil Urges and Circuital respectively. Next up was a Jim James-helmed rendition of Donovan’s “Season Of The Witch,” which was also premiered at the Louisville show in October 2022. My Morning Jacket and Pres Hall said farewell by looking to It Still Moves for a show-closing “Dancefloors.”

View fan-shot video of last night’s “Rattlin’ Bones” and “Spooky” below:

My Morning Jacket brings their fall tour to Atlanta’s Fox Theatre next for shows on Friday, November 3 and Saturday, November 4.