Live music review: Park City Song Summit day two featured My Morning Jacket, Larkin Poe and Anders Osborne

The fifth Park City Song Summit festival continued on day two (August 16) at Canyons Village Amphitheater with two-hour headlining set by My Morning Jacket. The undercard featured standout performances from the talented guitarist sisters of Larkin Poe and Anders Osborne with Jackie Greene. Those high-quality acts plus grade-A production and event values amid astounding mountain views and ideal Summer condition minus an afternoon thunderstorm on Saturday added up to an exceptional experience for fans and artists alike.

Friday’s Amphitheater shows kicked off with Swedish guitar virtuoso Anders Osborne who has ties to both New Orleans and Nashville. Osborne’s band is equally talented lending a dose of classic blues rock and good old rock n roll to a perfect late afternoon. His guitarist Jackie Greene is as old school as you get, at one point reeling off Allman Brothers riffs like he wrote the music himself. The good vibes quickly spread around the picture perfect hillside venue. Who wouldn’t be happy watching top tier artists like Osborne in a settling like that?

After a short break, sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe took the stage in matching jeans costumes, veteran touring musician vibes in front of a crack backing band and honestly blew our minds a bit with their amazing dexterity on guitar, which shouldn’t actually come as a surprise once you realize they’ve been performing since the pair were teen acoustic trio, The Lovell Sisters from 2004. These are seasoned musicians who know how to shred some guitar and put on a damn good show.

The group played their impressive original Blues Rock / Roots Music songs with a cover of a Son House tune that was particularly good as they’d found a way to remake it in their own musical spirit. Megan Lovell plays the guitar standing but with the instrument resting horizontally across her body as if she was strumming it while seated. It’s quite impressive to watch from a close vantage point. Rebecca was equally as compelling a player with a more traditional approach to holding her six-string, rocking a sparkling silver Fender.

Friday evening headliner, My Morning Jacket closed out the party with band leader, Jim James who’d done a compelling Summit Labs session that afternoon with longtime photographer, Danny Clinch took the stage in a mostly white outfit with heart-shaped glasses on his face and a particularly upbeat attitude. James, who typically doesn’t say much during MMJ’s performances seemed to be in the kind of euphoric mood artists attain when they know they’re performing for people who truly love the musical arts are present. Park City Song Summit felt less like a traditional music fest and more like a gathering of like minds. It was at its core, an industry music event that the public was invited to with a smallish capacity that lent the event a relaxed, intimate feel fans these days usually don’t get with the caliber of musicians PCSS put on stage.

The true Morning Jacket heads were lined up along the railing that separated the fans from the small photo pit in front of the stage. It felt as though James and his amazing band; Carl Broemel (guitar, sax, keys), Patrick Hallahan (drums), Bo Koster (keys) and Tom Blankenship (bass) were hamming it up for audience members in front of them at various points during the performance. Fans ate up every second.

The set began with “Circuitual” the title track from the group’s sixth studio recording which felt like exactly the right pace to begin. With the sun still peeking over the majestic hills and mountains surrounding the venue, the band got their considerable engine revved up and moved into “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Part I” from 2008 album, Evil Urges.
A few song later, James broke out his flying V guitar and it was on like Donkey Kong with a string of MMJ hits starting with One Big Holiday>Golden>I’m Amazed>Off the Record. Fans were euphoric while James commented on a bird flying above the hill in front of him as the sun began to settle behind the Rockies while vocalizing during “Golden.”  The commentary was both humorous and a bit weird, endearing James further to an already adoring crowd.

The astounding 17-song set included fan favorite, “Stream Engine” about midway through the show. My Morning Jacket concluded their performance with another string of great songs; “Dancefloors,” “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Part 2,” and “Wordless Chorus.” The latter is a Cosmic Clash favorite that we along with the rest of the MMJ faithful reveled in as the great Louisville band took us home, completing an amazing two-tour show that came on top of a five-star day at Park City Song Summit.

All photos by Ryan Odom except where noted 

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