The Feel Good Revolution

Conor

So, the day finally came. The Bright Eyes show. It delivered everything that was promised.
The Facts:
1) Bright Eyes, namely Conor Oberst, is my #1. Undeniably.
2) The other artists that were there (M. Ward, Jim James and Mike Mogis) are amazing.
3) Conor Oberst (the brains behind the whole project and the groups only constant member) is a wonderkid, a genuis beyond his years. He was playing in a band (Commander Venus---I highly recommend) when he was only 14 years old and hasn't stopped making tracks since, and it's ALL better than good. He is my hero.

The show started on time, opening with Portlands very own M. Ward, a bluesy indie artist and a beautiful guitar player. He literally seduces you with every note. He rocks. This was followed by many solo and collaborative performances by all the artists on the tour, which they themselves deemed "A Night with the Monsters of Folk". During one of Conors solos, a dead-drunk girl tried to throw herself over the balcony (the show was at the Roseland Theatre in Portland) and was only caught by a friend two seconds before she could have seriously maimed herself. It was so disrupting, Conor stopped his melody and just directed a boyish, irritable stare towards all the commotion until breaking the silence with "Waste of Paint" from his most recent album, Lifted, followed by "One Foot in Front of the Other" from the Saddle Creek 50.
Then, he progressively got himself good and drunk (earning the pet name Co-neer O-beerst, given to him by Jim James), kicking over a beer onto his pedals, hitting himself in the face with the mic while tuning his acoustic, making slurred statements about target, sprinkling his speech with four-letter words and finally knocking over the mic and leaning on his bandmates to the point of losing rhythm. It was glorious. Jim James, the lead of the group My Morning Jacket, also brought his own element, busting out about a minute and a half beat solely using the top of his electric-acoustic, breaking free from his heavy folk roots and add a little more flavor to the mostly mellow set. Also, the presence of Mike Mogis was an amazing treat. Mogis has produced tracks and albums for most all of the groups on Saddle Creek Records and groups such as The Gloria Record and was also a member of Lullaby for the Working Class. A legend of indie music, modestly speaking.
The experience tossed me into a whole new world of appriceation for Bright Eyes, Conor, and it gave me hope for the genre.
After the show was over, Eric and I went around the back of the venue to maybe catch a glance or have a conversation with Conor or any one of the guys that felt like fraternizing. Mike Mogis and Jim James made breif cameos but all Conor could muster was a small, inhebriated wave while stumbling to the bus. A small dissapointment, but oh well. After a show like that he doesn't owe us anything.
Eric and I left around 1:30 with our newfound friend Moona, a nice girl we met while waiting in the rain. We gave her a ride to a friends house in SE and then made our way back home.
I am highly anticipating the new Bright Eyes albums , which will be out in January.
Also, since we're somewhat on the subject of Saddle Creek...The Faint is playing the Roseland on Nov 7th. I'll be there. Check it out.

You can find more pics of the show here.