Fans shouted out requests so often that after one song, Oberst had to figure what to play next. He said that they were deviating from the set list. Oberst's closest connection to the audience came when he lowered the mike among it to allow some fans to finish singing the final chorus to "Happy Birthday" to Anton Patnzer. None of the band members shook hands with the crowd, which was probably just as well, since I could totally envision tiny Oberst being pulled over the stage and on to the floor by the throngs of excited fans.
Conor Oberst's vocals wouldn't have won him a spot on American Idol; with his somewhat husky, shaky style, however, he excels at conveying emotions and telling stories. His songs are more stories than simple, easily digestible pop and Oberst seems to more talk you through the stories more than sing in a more traditional style. Regardless of this analysis, Bright Eyes' quality songs won over the fans and should have a lot more people asking who this band is.
The show ended with two songs for the encore, with the first one being Oberst solo with an acoustic guitar, followed by a near-musical jam with the shaggy Gruff Rhys joining the band, with several people taking turns at lead vocals, for a sing-along.
Hopefully, the next time they play Winnipeg, they'll bring some merchandise. My rating for this show is 3.5/5.
Bright Eyes
June 10, Burton Cummings Theatre
Winnipeg, Canada
Attendance: 1,150
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...