Is it just me or is Conor Oberst beginning to look more and more like Jack White lately? Fortunately he sounds nothing like him. A lot has changed since I last saw Bright Eyes in November 2005, Conor has surrounded himself with a 'permanent band' and the production that is their live show has vastly improved. Their set was heavy on the new tunes form Cassadaga, which I like, but I'm not sure it's as epic as 'Wide Awake'. Conor only dipped into his back catalogue briefly, playing only two pre-Digital Ash/Wide Awake tunes-- "Method Acting" and crowd favorite "The Calendar Hung Itself (with bongo drums added in?)".
The visuals behind the band were both inventive and intriguing, and added a lot to the show. Basically, there was a dude in the back playing with shit on a document camera that was projected on a screen behind the band, the idea seems simple, but it turned out to be pretty awesome (dripping food coloring into water has never looked so cool). Unfortunately, there weren't as many drunk Conor moments this time, so I didn't walk away with a new guitar which kind of disappoints me. During the final encore ('Road To Joy'--by far my favorite song of the night), Conor jumped off stage--as his band mates looked on with that 'Oh shit what's he going to do now?' look on their face, as he threw flowers from the stage into the crowd for about 3 minutes as the rest of the band improvised before the final verse. Overall, it was a great show, and I'm definitely in the camp that supports Connor's movement toward folk/Americana, hopefully I get to see them live again soon.
Bright Eyes - Road To Joy (live from the Motion Sickness LP)
Finally, TODAY is the Decemberists concert in Red Square at our campus, I'm super stoked. THEN tomorrow I'm going to see Explosions in the Sky in Seattle-- this week is shaping up to be one of the best concert-going weeks in my life, it's awesome! I'll be sure to keep you updated, as well as posting about some new music I've been digging lately...
No comments:
Post a Comment