People were lining up for this show, the first Bright Eyes performance in Winnipeg, from around 5:30 pm. The floor seats were rush seating, which gave everyone the promise of seeing the band up close, so long as concertgoers managed to show up early enough. They advertised the show starting at 7:30, which would suggest that the doors would open an hour early. Wrong! The doors opened around 6:50.
As I briskly walked in, I noticed that the merchandise booth was completely empty. I confirmed with one of the security people that there was no merch on sale, which was a first for me. With the passionate crowd that showed up, surely they could have sold hundreds of t-shirts and hoodies.
I managed to sit in an aisle seat in the fourth row. I chose that seat so that I would have easy access to the stage, when they allowed us to move up for a closer view. It was interesting to hear the security staff indicate to the crowd who were about to storm the front of the stage that they would be clearing the floor after the opening act, Gruff Rhys from the Super Furry Animals. Since all the seats on the floor were rush seating, that meant you would be giving up your seat to see the opening act, and then would have to find another seat when the floor was cleared. Several groups of people quickly realized the dilemma they faced and opted to return to their seats.
The mostly 20-something and younger crowd were in a good mood and gave opener Gruff Rhys a polite response as he performed alone with guitar, keyboards and quirky electronic devices designed to produce an atmosphere of bird sounds. Like Son of Dave, who I saw perform at the Winnipeg Folk Festival a while ago, Gruff would record himself as he sang and played instruments and then immediately play the recording back as he played and sang another part. It was fun and daring and easily won over the crowd.
Article comments
1 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Nice review. And there's really a theater named for the lead vocalist for the Guess Who?
2 - Mat Brewster
Very cool. Bright Eyes came to my neck of the woods not all that long ago, but alas I had to work.
3 - Triniman
Yes, they renamed it from the original name, The Walker Theatre. We didn't have anything in the city named after Burton, so they decided to use his name.
4 - Duke De Mondo
one day, one day soon, Conor will set foot in Belfast, and on yonder day, oh dear god the streets will be afire with the lust runnin wild. And i'll be there, i will.
Great review, Triniman, and oh what a lovely photograph in the midst of it all.
5 - Danni Bauer
I was at the show, and I loved that there was no merch. There was no gimmick, no pressure to get out of my seat. I got to enjoy a full show without getting merch, and I really didnt mind. I saw the Pixies at Burton Cummings and when I got out my seat 1/2 through the show the merch guy said "you shouldnt be wasted your music, your missing so much" and I thought it was true.
6 - Triniman
While I was lining up outside, I began to wonder if I should skip the merch table and get a good seat, since the floor seats were rush seating.
At the Franz Ferdinand/ Death Cab For Cutie show, I lined up for a long time, maybe 45 minutes, to buy t-shirts and totally missed the opening band.
7 - Atom Ant
The first time I heard Conor Oberst's vocals, I hated them. And the second time. The third time, too...
It was on about the fifty seventh listen that discovered they we actually quite beautiful.
8 - moi
umm, hey you seem to go to all the concerts i go to, are you going to xavier rudd on nov 24
9 - Joshua. T
This sounds like a great show to see i hope to see him to one day his one of my fav artist now and i hope it will be an ale age's gig because im only 14 . yeah i guess the no merch was a good idea tho i would love to have a bright eye's hoodie or shirt atleast we'll anyway hopefully he do another australian tour soon in wollongong i woundn't miss it for the world he has wonderfull vocal's and beautiful true lyric's xD i sound like a crazed fan but i just like his music alot that all
10 - Anakino
poorly written review, perhaps if you stopped spending all your time slagging off mainstream pop, the young people of today's taste in music and actually knew something about the band (i.e more than 1 song name) you would get somewhere...