After clearing the floor of fans, we sat and waited like caged animals for our chance to spring for the stage. All eyes were on Security for any sign that it was okay to fly out of our seats. There it was, a small nod after a woman approached the diminutive staff person guarding the aisle. Suddenly, there was a mad rush as bodies filled the path and sped by this guy, careful not to knock him down. I ended up inches from the stage, behind a couple of people.
When the lights went down, I could hear screams of "Oh, my God!" from some of the excited female fans. All of a sudden, we were squished together as one fan elbowed her way beside me with her small digital camera to get some closer shots of the band. We stood in front of the fiddle player, with Conor Oberst, the much celebrated singer-songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska, being about ten feet away in a mostly un-obstructed view.
The six-piece took to the stage around 8:40 pm with intense, countrified-indie rock. The fiddle player, Anton Patnzer, was spastic as the music erupted from him. Towards the end of the show, I was surprised that he and Oberst didn't collide as they ran around the middle section of the stage. The fourth track began with fuzzy guitar tones and I knew it would be one of their best known songs, the gem "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)." Oberst switched from acoustic to electric guitar a fair bit, often leaving the still playing instrument on a stand as it resonated out its final sounds.
Clearly, the songs of Bright Eyes are more in-depth, introspective and intelligent than a lot of the cookie-cutter pop that young people listen to these days. Conor Oberst has more in common with Bob Dylan and Neil Young than the typical musical spectrum that ends up on young people's playlists.
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...