Jim James’ entire musical modus operandi might as well be “this dude is in love with his guitar.” That’s something someone might say if their entire exposure to James’ band, My Morning Jacket, was the Southern-rock banger “Mahgeetah” from 2003’s opus, “It Still Moves.” In fai rness to this hypothetical plebe, the song is literally called mah geetah, as in my guitar. Jim James performs with My Morning Jacket at Hoochenanny Festival on August 15, 2026. Credit: PHOTO BY PATRICK HOSKEN Imagine, then, hearing My Morning Jacket — lovingly, The Jacket — save “Mahgeetah” for its last song on Saturday night, when the longtime twang-jam rock institution headlined the Hoochenanny Festival. Ten minutes on the clock ‘til the Perinton curfew, a band known for jamming ripped into those yearning chords, and something in my mind snapped into place. This is a love song, I thought. James loves playing his geetah. It takes him places. And everyone who witnessed it was whisked away to another plane of existence right along with him. It was hard to look away. The Jacket, now in its 28th year as a musical entity, is a hard-touring, well-oiled rock and roll machine. Songs stretch on into orchestrated but not overly rehearsed jams. Their Kentucky roots shine in James’ vocal twang, but he’s always been a soul man, glittered in a star-emblazoned jacket and wailing wordless choruses like a hippie Gregorian monk. He was the perfect emcee for a night like August 15 at Center Park West: 70-something degrees and low humidity, with a sunset that might as well have been dipped in chocolate. For its third go-around, Hoochenanny upped his musical game significantly, nabbing The Jacket for its second night with direct support from beloved Massachusetts alternative band Guster. Guster performs at Hoochenanny Festival on August 15, 2026. Credit: PHOTO BY PATRICK HOSKEN The crowd showed up loud and proud for Guster, who performed at Milestones in 1999, Main Street Armory a decade later and has made regular touring appearances in the region for a quarter century. Vocalist Ryan Miller — not that one — even shouted out 90.5 WBER by name for the indie station’s continued support. “Satellite,” “Barrel of a Gun” and big hit “Amsterdam” dazzled with their midtempo power-pop sensibilities. Ryan Miller, singer of the band Guster, sings in the crowd of Hoochenanny Festival on August 15, 2026. Credit: PHOTO BY PATRICK HOSKEN It wasn’t always scripted. Midway through, a feedback drone caused the band to improvise a song called “Psyop” as technicians worked to clear it. Shortly after, Miller disappeared into the crowd while singing into his decidedly not-cordless microphone, eventually making his way to the crowded VIP tent to steal a man’s festival-ready Undertaker hat. “I’m 53 and a half years old!” Miller exclaimed as he climbed over the gate, explaining back on stage that he later tweaked his back in the melee. Guster in Rochester: too big-hearted to fail. But the night belonged to The Jacket. Bounding from echoes of the Grateful Dead (“Phone Went West”) and Fela Kuti (“Spring (Among the Living)”) to country slowcore (“I Think I’m Going to Hell”) and arena-rock drone (“Victory Dance”), the quintet was as locked in as ever, finding the places where electric guitars might take the sounds just a bit further. And maybe even further than that. Oh right, the geetahs. James plays about a dozen of them, including a Gibson SG and a Flying V and some kind of semi-hollow body (I’m not a gear guy) and a Telecaster and I think a Strat, too, though it got pretty hazy at one point. (The Jacket’s LED light show, it should be noted, is second to none as far as jam-centric sets goes.) The point is not which geetah on which song but that all the geetahs, taken in totality, are his geetah. My Morning Jacket performs at Hoochenanny Festival on August 15, 2026. Credit: PHOTO BY PATRICK HOSKEN The band’s set felt cleaved in two. The sun’s final droop coincided with the amber hymnal “I Will Sing You Songs” finishing and big rock number “I’m Amazed” kicking things into fast action. The aforementioned “It Still Moves,” along with their 2005 masterpiece “Z,” were well represented. “Dancefloors” shined with James harmonizing his geetah with that of band member Carl Broemel; “Off the Record” dipped into a groove-heavy dub intro and outro. Between songs, James mentioned the beauty of the Rochester area, which he said the band saw via a long walk by the Erie Canal and even a tour of an art museum. (I have to assume this was the MAG, but I’ll inquire.) Given all the natural beauty surrounding the set, I had fully expected a grand finale involving the finger cramp-inducing “One Big Holiday,” the band’s sonic manifesto and festival namesake. It’s a party, and the night was certainly a party, so only a party could punctuate a party, you know? I was, however, pleasantly undercut by the reverberations of “Mahgeetah” instead. James strapped on his golden Tele, banged out that F major and even welcomed fellow festival performer (and bassist) Karina Rykman on stage to add dimension to the low end. This extra chunk made “Mahgeetah” really go. Am I talking about “Mahgeetah” too much? Sorry. But one time in college someone in a journalism as literature class made everyone go around and say what their favorite songs of all time were and I said, well, “Mahgeetah.” I wasn’t expecting to hear “Mahgeetah,” you understand. I was expecting “One Big Holiday” and I got “Mahgeetah,” which is kind of like expecting a banana split (incredible) only to receive a hot-fudge sundae (somehow even better). Right now I’m actually thinking about my favorite Jim James geetah moment of the night, which was not “Mahgeetah.” During “Circuital,” a banger from 2011’s great album of the same name, James strummed the hell out of a gorgeous acoustic Gibson sunburst, which the song’s dynamic framework always calls for. (The airy solo belonged to Broemel.) But in the song’s extended coda, James decided to do a kind of fast-picked, flamenco-inspired improvisation that simply couldn’t compete with the loud roar of the band. But he did it anyway, and it sounded awesome. When he feels the spirit, he must play whatever geetah is available. Mah geetah. Your geetah. All of our geetahs. The post REVIEW | My Morning Jacket and Guster at Hoochenanny Festival appeared first on CITY Magazine. Arts. Music. Culture.. ...read more read less