from a cradle to a casket.

I went to see Bright Eyes at a show in Baltimore
which featured Tarentel (a pretty good instrumental
band), Tristeza (another good instrumental band), and
Her Space Holiday.

At this show, Bright Eyes played many new tunes...and
not too much from "Fevers and Mirrors." Conor was in
good mood and he took the boy in front's request for
"A Perfect Sonnet" as the last song of the night. The
concert was all in all fairly jilted...seeing as
though the acoustic guitar was cutting out during the
most inopportune moments. I was impressed by the band
which was filled out more than the last time (the
first time) I saw them...I say, the more the
better..the vibes and the lap steel definitely rock.
The strange thing that happened though was that this
guy, who was being a dick the whole show, became
enraged by the end and started saying how Conor was a
Simon Joyner clone...then he made a kind of awkward
spectacle by throwing shit at Conor like empty cups
and trash. I heard something hit his guitar. Conor
didn't look up though. He played a little folk song
that he said he feels dumb playing, but only when he's
playing it for other people where he sings about
needing a parachute because he's falling in love or
something to that effect. After the show he shook my
friend's hand and he made a awestruck male fan (who
declared he was in love) very happy by playing "A
Perfect Sonnet."

The next show, at the 4040 in Philly, was way more
confrontational. Again, Bright Eyes went on
last...even though I think that Pedro the Lion was
headlining. I missed the first part of the Death Cab
set, but they are spectacular and I'm sorry I missed
it. After Pedro played a set with Ben Gibbard on bass,
Bright Eyes took to the stage. I heard people
talking at this show who were skeptical of Bright Eyes
who had heard his earlier material and
such...apparently, they didn't know why so many people
stayed after the Lion.

During the opening long, little, standard folk tune he
opened with (the same one from the night before), he
sang one triumphant line, "and Pedro, while your
kneeling/I'm standing UP!!!" That kinda shook the
audience up a bit and besides being awesome, it
served as an indication as to the mood of the rest of
the show. Conor was drunk I think, as it is always
better to play drunk and drinking than not. "A Line
Allows Progress..." was next. As he did the night
before, during soundcheck, he told the soundman that
he "fucking loved him." And when the sound was
adjusted to his specifications, he said, "oh yeah!" as
if the soundman was giving him head. Then after
calling himself a bastard several times, he played
the aforementioned folk song.

Another highlight, "Sunrise.Sunset." This was towards
the end of the show. He prefaced this song by saying
that it is " a song about time and how it is going to
kill all of us." Then during middle of the song, he
noticed that people in the back were talking. he
responded by screaming, "WHAT! WHAT! WHAT!" over the
microphone. At another point in the same song...(it
was after a bridge or a chorus) he yelped, "give me
your fucking money" in a rather pernicious tone. I
wouldn't have been surprised if Pedro the Lion fans
started throwing their old Lemonheads cds at Oberst,
but unfortunately that didn't happen.

And one more thing...in the middle of the set, they
played a new song with the chorus: "the drunk kids/the
catholics/they're really just the same/i've been
working all weekend/I need to get paid." This tune is
definitely a winner. It's keyboard based and it's got
a familar melody, kinda like the way that " A Curious
Girl..." is...but this song is even better perhaps.
When he played this song the night before he said that
he "hoped there were no clergy in the building."

"The Calendar Hung Itself" was played at both shows.
But my favorite song of theirs, "Something Vague," was
not played at either. Bummer.

[back to the fibonacci sequence]