This is a home turf for My Morning Jacket. Having seen the band eighteen times preceding this, it still felt like a pilgrimage of sorts — it might not be their legendary midnight set from 2008, but I was about to finally see this band at Bonnaroo, and there’s some history there. Given the context, my assumption was that MMJ would get a little weirder than they did at Governors Ball last weekend. That set was essentially new songs mixed in with MMJ greatest hits, which is perfect for a festival set, but since this was a specific festival set, some deep cuts and some of their sometimes-batshit-always-fun covers seemed like a given. Well, the set was nearly identical to the one they played at Governors Ball; the only changes I noticed were “I’m Amazed” instead of “Big Decisions,” “Dondante” instead of “Steam Engine,” “Off The Record,” and the second half of “Run Thru” tagged onto “Evil Urges.” Given that we were at Bonnaroo, it was a little surprising they didn’t go deeper into their catalog. (For example, there weren’t any songs from The Tennessee Fire or At Dawn, material that would’ve played fine for a festival crowd here where, presumably, it might’ve not connected as much at Governors Ball.)

But anyway, all that being said — there is no such thing as a bad MMJ show, or even a MMJ that is anything short of great. This year’s Bonnaroo set might’ve been short on surprises, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t totally enthralling and exhilarating anyway. These guys are never not at the top of the game, all led by Jim James, one of the true great rock frontmen of this century. New additions like “Compound Fracture,” “Spring (Among The Living),” and “Tropics (Erase Traces)” continue to deliver on the promise of their album versions — that they’d be stunning inclusions in the MMJ live canon. Meanwhile, there’s still little else that compares to seeing a field of people react to the pulsing jam from the middle of “Run Thru,” the earth-and-dancefloor-shaking climax of “Touch Me, I’m Going To Scream, Pt. 2,” or, of course, everything that happens during “One Big Holiday.”