Happy New Year!

Yes, it was a very happy new year, for me and maybe 15,000 of my closest friends at Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve night. Many of the attendees for My Morning Jacket's "Black Tie Blowout" got the memo to dress to the nines for the night. The band played their part, wearing suits early on, or at least shirts and ties, before breaking out the white tuxes as 2009 dawned on the New York City part of the world.

Click on the photo seen here for a slideshow of shots from my wife, Nicole Goodhue Boyd (Canon G9 from maybe a football field and a half away).

The show was terrific, lived up to its billing. Never thought I'd find myself clapping at a cover of "Islands in the Stream," so that was a surprise - I was introduced to Nicole Atkins, a Jersey girl who dueted with Jim James on that song in the second set and on Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "You're All I Need to Get By," a song that this world is barely good enough for.

The covers, which also included "Express Yourself" (the original by Charles Wright, later sampled to great effect for the "cover" by NWA), Dion's "The Wanderer" (with horns) and the midnight tune, Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" were really the only surprises.

Their originals setlist really didn't carry any surprises - I expected a "greatest hits" of sorts to basically seal up their first 10 years of existence and that's what they gave (though none came from their debut The Tennessee Fire).

Some of the bests that I've heard: "Dondante," "Phone Went West," "Dancehalls" (with horns), "Thank You Too."

All in all, a great night. I'll be back later this week, once I dig myself out of some work, with my top picks of 2008.

Happy listening to the show on archive.org! Thanks to Scott Bernstein, the taper of this show, and all tapers everywhere, and all bands that allow the taping of their shows! Support them by buying their studio stuff and making sure no one's selling the concert taped stuff.

Again, Happy New Year!