Bright Eyes full of passion, elegance in 2-hour concert
Bright Eyes finished its set proper last night during a two-hour show in Kemba Live with frontman Conor Oberst singing, “You’re approaching even as you disappear.”
The line wasn’t so spectacular, given the dozens that came before. But it summed things up. The primary songwriter in the band, the bookish Oberst not only has a penchant for high drama but also an obsession with targeting life’s disappointments as well as its always-atarm’s-length blessings. With an extended, 14-piece version of Bright Eyes and his froggy voice, he delivered those lines with passion and elegance last night.
The band’s new album “Down in the Weeds, Where The World Once Was” is the group’s first in nine years. Given the COVID shut-down, the tour is the first opportunity the band has had to perform it on the road since its 2020 release.
Bright Eyes has a long history. It formed in 1998, when Oberst was 18; the songwriter had been compiling material since he was 15.
With the band and on his own with a half-dozen brilliant solo albums, the Omaha native has explored the weighty issues of being human. The scenarios in his songs are sometimes surreal, dropping references from literature, cinema and history like crumbs along the path to their deciphering. When they lose their narrative way, though, they still read like poetic candy.
If all this sounds slightly ponderous, Bright Eyes presented it with a bounty of styles, rich arrangements for its full string and horn section, and a singer who obviously lived each and every line.
Mike Mogis, a key and original member was impressive on a variety of instruments, including guitar, mandolin, and steel guitar. A respected producer in his own right, he surely partnered in the impressive
presentation last night.
The arrangements never left anyone out in the cold. This was the rare performance utilizing a string section in a rock concert that was integral in the mix. It was never lost in the sound and always significant in the songs’ swing. And the charts covered a lot of territory, from the train song shuffle of one Dylanesque song to the fat, soulful Van Morrison vibe in another.
At the center of it all, though, was Oberst, delivering his phrases like his life depended on it. He mused with wonder when the memories of a romance were still fresh and he remembered disappointment as though it was yesterday. In one song he screamed “Ha ha ha,” sounding like Marlon Brando berating Blanche Dubois in “Streetcar Named Desire.”
“Here is a love song,” he said in the introduction to “Stairwell Song.” “We still have a few of these.” But it was a love song from Oberst-ville, ending with, “you just packed your bags one day/didn’t bother to explain … you like cinematic endings.”
Christian Lee Hutson, who partnered with Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers in the group Better Oblivion Community Center and wrote a song for Bridgers’ super-group boygenius opened with a short set of sentimental but well-crafted songs.