Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band / Jenny Lewis @Battery Park, July 4th

This past 4th of July, a bunch of us got da hook up from dear Whitney to go sit in the VIP section for the annual free concert in Battery Park. Even though our location was not optimal for hearing the musicians and seeing the stage, at least we didn't have to get in line hours earlier and worry about anyone stealing our spots since seats were aplenty in our section. Plus, we had the added bonus of free barbecue, drinks and ice cream, so it was all good.

The concert opened with indie darling Jenny Lewis, whom I had caught less than a month prior in Williamsburg. Her setlist was more or less the same, coming in a little shorter at 55 minutes, so I was not at all fussed to be up front again like I had been for the smaller venue show. She was her usual beautiful self, and her mood reflected the sunny gorgeous day. A nice twist -- for her cover of the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle Me With Care," she brought out Conor Oberst and his band for backup vocals duty as a preview of what was to come.

The headliner was Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, a band I was somewhat looking forward to, but not in any huge hurry to spend any money on. I've enjoyed Conor Oberst's usual iteration of Bright Eyes a number of times before, so I kinda knew what to expect, but didn't have any familiarity with his latest material.

With Conor Oberst, I find it important to be in the mood for his music. He can be really awesome if you're totally into it, but if not, it wears thin pretty quickly. He and his bandmates are certainly talented, but after a while, the songs can kinda sound all the same. And the combination of our being on the side, and not knowing the material made us a bit restless towards the end. The music, however energetic, proved a bit much to take at an hour and 45 minutes.

Nonetheless, the afternoon proved to be a perfect way to spend a 4th of July with friends and decent food and good entertainment, and in the end, isn't that what it really is all about?

Bright Eyes @Town Hall, May 29th

Hell, I just saw Bright Eyes last night. What else can I say? First, sitting in the front row can make a world of difference!



Tonight's special guests were The Little Willies featuring Norah Jones. I had seen them before at the very same venue, opening for Ryan Adams.


The Little Willies and Conor sang "We Are Nowhere, and It's Now":

I quite liked it when Conor knocked over his mic stand and decided to lie on the floor and sing into it and play the guitar, rather than picking it up.



Gillian Welch and David Rawlings opened again. Rawlings is quite the virtuoso on his Stradivarius-looking guitar.


They all joined the stage again for various encores.


Perhaps the key to tonight's success was the ensemble cover of Neil Young's "Helpless" -- always a crowd-pleaser:



And being at the front also means getting the setlist is pretty much a given...


Thanks, Easter Bunny! Bwok bwok!

PS -- Spotted Craig Wedren in the crowd. We saw him open for Bright Eyes in March.

Bright Eyes @Town Hall, May 28th

Caught Bright Eyes last night at Town Hall for the 3rd night of their sold out seven night run. I had great 5th row dead center seats from the presale. I loved their show at the Bowery in March, which compelled me to buy these tickets, but tonight I was not so blown away. Maybe it's the superiority of Bowery in terms of size, intimacy and acoustics, the fact that we were seated versus standing...I dunno. I wasn't feeling it as much despite seeing the lovely Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney on drums.

Openers Gillian Welch and David Rawlings did knock me outta my boots, tho. I hadn't heard that much from Gillian aside from her occasional appearance on compilations or her stellar cover of Radiohead's "Black Star," so it was serendipitous that on Saturday I passed by a stoop sale and picked up a used copy of her debut album, Revival, for 33¢. The fact that they opened with the lead track "Orphan Girl" from that cd really made me pleased as punch. The two of them held the crowd in their quiet acoustic way with beautiful, honest music. They finished strong with a rousing cover of Johnny Cash's "Jackson."

The evening was not without its highlights, however. As promised, Conor did have a special guest come on stage, and perhaps he read my mind and saw my Rilo Kiley t-shirt, cos I screamed with the best of them for my girl crush, Jenny Lewis. They played "Melt Your Heart":

Here's a picture of Jenny with her boytoy, Johnathan Rice, who also played a few songs:

David and Gillian also joined Conor on stage for some encores, including a great sounding "Lua" for which Gillian even sang some lines.

Yeah, so back to Conor & Co. I still think he's worthwhile seeing live, but kinda like with Sufjan, I can only listen to him in limited doses. There's only so much of that warbly voice and slight air of douchebaggery that I can take. But who knows what I'm talking about; I have front row seats for tonight!

PS -- Julie1 and I sat in front of Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum, which made Wawa jealous.

Bright Eyes @Bowery Ballroom, March 2nd

Friday night I headed over to the Bowery Ballroom with Wawa, his friend Marc, Shana, Andie and Matt from The Music Slut to check out Bright Eyes aka Conor Oberst & Co., who are in the midst of a mini-tour supporting the newly released Four Winds EP and the upcoming full-length Cassadaga

In the past I have caught Conor playing a song or two here and there, and once for a proper gig during the forgettable Digital Ash In A Digital Urn tour in May of 2005, and was never blown away. I have been reluctant to embrace him and the love bestowed upon him by the indie kids, finding him a wee bit too precious and waif-like for my tastes and doubting whether he can truly be the next Bob Dylan. Plus, I really have to be in the mood to listen to an entire cd of his in one sitting. So, I was definitely not looking for a self-indulgent, acoustic set after a very long week.

Well, Conor brought the guns. He played a tight, energetic set without spending too much time on the mope, interspersing a nice level of banter throughout the 2-1/2 hours. I didn't know everything he played, but he brought a sense of urgency to his songs that Andie deemed "compelling." And the crowd was not filled with as many assholes as I had originally worried there'd be. The three girls who jutted in front of us did comment on what beautiful wrists Conor had, however.

The icing on the cake? M. Ward showed up about 2/3s of the way through the set and played second fiddle to Conor for the most part, occasionally lending his smoky vocals to the songs. A nice surprise, well, not really, since Conor did declare Matt to be his BFF, and well, M. Ward does appear on the new material.

Here's a video of them performing the beautiful "Smoke Without Fire" from the new EP:

I also YouTubed "Make War" and "We Are Nowhere And It's Now."

Check out Music Slut Matt's review of the show here.

All in all, a great show. I hadn't been excited like that by a show in quite some time. Always good stuff at the Bowery.

Oh, also Craig Wedren, the lead singer from Shudder To Think, was one of the openers for the evening. He plays an interesting blend of songs with sounds ranging from hard rock/punk to pop. Craig has a melodic voice and often uses it almost operatically. I didn't realize that he has written many songs for various film soundtracks, including one of my favorites, Velvet Goldmine. His music had its moments, but was quite uneven, perhaps since he was trying out new material for the most part. I enjoyed his set I caught in November 2005 at the Living Room much more.