Bright of Eye, Bushy of Tail: Thoughts on the Bright Eyes Concert at the Union

I think I’ve decided I’m going to stop going to concerts at the IMU. Sure it hosts good shows—both Ryan Adams and Wilco paid a visit to the venue in the last few weeks—but it’s always so clean and clinical. And there’s no beer. Which means that anybody who wants to enjoy a leisurely drink or two needs to do the whole sneak around with a spiked drink deal. No beer, coupled with the presence of throngs of 16 year-old hipster kids, made me feel an awful lot like I was attending a high school mixer.

I kept on thinking about what an amazing show it would have been had it been in a dirty old beer soaked club: the music throbbing, the beer flowing, the dance floor one mass of jumbled, drunken human bodies gyrating in unison.

Which isn’t to say that the concert wasn’t good. Conner Oberst was amazing, finding time to deliver not only soft crooning and violent wailing, but also admirably subversive political statements and a random shout-out to the working poor. All in all, it was an unbelievable performance from a man whose only major visible flaw is that he kind of has a hunchback when he plays the piano.

Seriously, the man’s coolness almost made me feel uncomfortable. When my girlfriend snuck away to get a drink (of soda of course), I half expected that she would call me several days later from the band’s bus in somewhere like Fargo. That’s how strong the force was with Conner. He was like Jonny Depp if you strapped a guitar to him and gave him a voice ranging from the eunuch-sweet alto of a five year old boy to the teste-heavy bass of Zeus, Greek God of the Sky and Thunder.

The first time he pulled out what I’m going to call his “angry voice,” I actually got scared. Which I think was his intention, because the last song of the night he fondly dedicated to Dick Cheney and his Army of Satan, which is an inherently frightening concept.* As expected, the song was beautifully angry and angst filled and Conner was on fire, kicking shit around and jumping on speakers and the like.

I was a little disappointed that he didn't play the "First Day of My Life" song, so I'll post the touching little video here to compensate for its absence on the set list:

Here's a live performance a while back on the Late Late Show too that's kind of fun. He doesn't kick shit (a minus) but he does get in a shot at the Dubya in Chief (a plus):

So all in all it was a great, alcohol free night. Which was good because 90% of those in attendance we’re being picked up by their parents. And if they would have had to go home with alcohol on their breath, they probably wouldn’t have been allowed to go to the next mixer.

* Note to Conner: an army of Satan is a pretty small army actually, Satan being just one demon among the scores who populate the fiery depths of Hell. Next time shoot higher—an army of Demons with Satan as its general perhaps. Or maybe “Dick Cheney and his Satan’s army,” which would imply that Dick Cheney himself is Satan and he is supported by an army of indeterminate size.