Chamberlin’s departure leaves frontman Billy Corgan as the only original member of the iconic alternative rock band that began in 1988. Chamberlin has played on all their albums, with the exception of 1998’s “Adore” and was the only other original member to play with Corgan when the band “reunited” and resumed touring in the spring of 2007.

According to the announcement Corgan will continue with plans to enter the studio this spring to record a new Smashing Pumpkins record.

Isbell made his name as the third guitarist and songwriter in the Drive by Truckers, more than holding his own against the bands acclaimed lyricists Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood. The circumstances around the split are still disputed but now on his own what can’t be disputed is his evolution as a front man in his own right.

Last week saw the release of his second album in the two years since the split and the record reflects both the growth and cohesion of his new band and the time he has had to sit down and develop its tracks. Since leaving the Truckers, Isbell has cultivated a more bluesy rock sound that belies his Muscle Shoals roots; the kind of sound sort of sneaks up on you like suddenly realizing the band playing in the background at the bar has a lot better stories to tell you than the guy you were talking to.

The show found Isbell and the band a little more than a week into an album promoting tour lasting till May, and tonight reflected the excitement of a band just getting started. A private show, with almost no promotion the only way to get in The Living Room’s intimate performance space was be one of the lucky ten winners on his website lotto or finagle an invite which made for a small but devoted audience.

The band played a semi acoustical fifty-minute set, bassist Jimbo Hart and keyboardist Derry deBorja stayed plugged in, that appropriate focused on new material. Emotional songs like “Streetlights” and “Cigarettes and Wine” benefited from the acoustic guitars and personal setting but the highlight of the late evening set was clearly the new song “Soldiers Get Strange” about veterans back from Iraq now fighting with PTSD backed up against “Dress Blues” a song about a friend of his who didn’t come back from Iraq at all, released on his previous album, Sirens in the Ditch.

They rounded off the friendly performance in typical Isbell fashion with a cover song, this one “Just to Know What You’ve Been Dreaming” by Will Johnson of Centro-Matic. It was a loose version due to the fact it was the first time anyone in the group other than Isbell and guitarist Browan Lollar had ever played it, but it reflected the comfort level both of the band with itself and with their audience.

It will present a fun comparison to Thursday’s plugged in and amped up show at The Bowery Ballroom.

Full setlist below:

Sunstroke
Streetlights
Soldiers Get Strange
Dress Blues
Seven Mile Island
Last Song
Cigarettes and Wine
Chicago Promenade
Just to Know What You’ve Been Dreaming*

*Will Johnson cover

Most famous for their collaboration with Paul Simon on his seminal 1986 album Graceland, world music’s answer to Rockapella has had an exceptional career performing its sublime Zulu a cappella for 48 years.

Mirroring the difficult racial struggle of its home country, Ladysmith Black Mambazo got its start in the traditional Zulu isicathamiya music of black South African mine workers in the 1960s before becoming one of South Africa’s most visible cultural exports. Along the way they’ve survived the violent deaths of four of their members, performed at Mandela’s inauguration and Peace Prize ceremony, won multiple Grammys and yes performed with Paul Simon.

Led by founder Joseph Shabalala and now including four of his sons this nine-piece group combines its beautiful harmonies with distinctive choreography based in the traditional tip-toe dances of the mine workers, designed not to wake up the guards.

Their show Saturday night kicked off with a perhaps ironic nod to their inescapable Graceland association, curtain music by Vampire Weekend, one of the big new bands of 2008 whose Kwassa Kwassa influenced sound has often been falsely accused of ripping off of Paul Simon.

But vampires and short American musical icons have nothing on the real deal. The show was a well paced and energetic affair that despite two 50-minute sets and an encore felt like it was over much too soon. Its tight complex harmonies seamlessly switched from English to their native language accompanied only by the percussion of their hands and throat clicks. Their set list covered a broad range of their expansive career though the biggest crowd responses were predictably to “Homeless,” off Graceland, and “Halala South Africa (Congratulations South Africa),” its song celebrating the end of Apartheid.

The musical performances were complimented by high kicks, dancing, histories of the band, banter and even a singing competition between the group and the audience. At stake, ultimate victory in the 2010 World Cup, being held in South Africa. Football purists may grimace but the win was given to the crowd. And we were all invited to stay with the band when we come to the Cup. Of course, we have to bring our own sleeping bags.

Until then there is always World Music Institute’s continuing series including Sidiki Conde & Tokounou of Guinea on March 20th, Yacub Addy’s Odadaa! of Ghana on March 28th and Habib Koite & Bamada of Mali on April 18th. Information on these shows and more can be found at worldmusicinstitute.org.
(Lack of photos due to Town Hall’s strict prohibition on cameras.)

So it was fitting that the year that began with a three-night New Years run at the 1,100-person Fillmore Theater in San Francisco ended with them headlining the world’s most famous arena — Madison Square Garden — on the biggest concert night of the year.

To mark such an occasion the band requested its fans wear formal attire, and an impressive percentage did so, adding a touch of surreal class even before the similarly tuxedo-clad band appeared on a 1920’s style bar mounted on the corner of the stage.

They left to open their two-set, three-and-a-half-hour concert epic with a cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “Move on Up” before raging through a mixture of MMJ staples, soul and funk covers and cuts off 2008’s Grammy nominated album, Evil Urges. They also brought a number of guests including Centro-Matic’s Will Johnson on a beautiful “Golden” and Nicole Atkins for Marvin Gaye’s “You’re All I Need” (she would return later to play Dolly Parton opposite lead singer Jim James’ Kenny Rogers on “Islands in the Stream”) and throughout the night the band was supplemented by horn section that featured big names like Jeff Coffin of Flecktones fame and Sex Mob front man Steve Bernstein.

My Morning Jacket’s music combines southern rock and jam music with soul and indie rock elements all tied together by the impressive vocals of Jim James who veers from ethereal falsetto to classic rock front man to Prince imitator placing the band in its own musical genre perhaps best described as “post-jam” and that appeals equally to hippies and hipsters. When the first set ended a scant twenty minutes before midnight members of both suffixes were shaking the arena dancing to the last notes of a raging “Magheeta.”

The short set break continued the flapper era motif as video screens throughout MSG began playing vintage movie intermission reels. These culminated in clips from Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” as the clock in the corner clicked down the final seconds. The year 2009 was greeted with a sea of confetti and white balloons falling from the ceiling as a now sparkling white tuxedo clad band burst into Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration” and then “Get Down on It.”

The first set of the new year also included an epic version of “Wordless Chorus,” plus “Anytime” and a cover of James Brown’s “Cold Sweat” before concluding with oh-so-appropriate “One Big Holiday,” which brought the house down. Appearing almost reluctant to have the show end, the band moved back to the bar where they were joined by friends and family and Jim James sang along (loosely) to Auld Lang Syne as it played through the house speakers.

It’s going to be a good year.

For those of you who couldn’t attend or who missed the clips on Anderson Cooper’s NYE Countdown the complete show is available free and legal for download or stream.