a review of Bright Eyes in Boston - "Conor Outburst"

Such a lame band...in my opinion.

My friend Rachel is drumming for them, and the show I saw here in Portland last month was astonishingly good. Must have been an off night. Conor is one of the nicest, most genuine folks in the biz.

Bright Eyes is hit or miss live, consistently.

...nice, genuine people can still be lousy, self-indulgent musicians.

filthy mcmuffin for president

Say, here's a thought - next time a rock star gets it into his/her head to smash up instruments, how's abouts just giving them to one of the fans who likely paid through their rear ends to see them perform instead. Smashing instruments might keep the supply chain moving for the instrument manufacturers and might seem "really fuckin cool" to that small, juvenile percentage of the audience that gets off on such displays, but it's really the musical equivalent of fat fuckers feasting on an all-you-can-eat while the hungry look on.

I believe that Conor is a nice, genuine person, I just think he needs to pull his shit together a little bit more. I frankly do think that he's an indulgent musician, but he's a very good (if inconsistent) songwriter with a lot to say. However, I'm getting a bit sick of being a Bright Eyes apologist.

Almost exactly what happened when he played the first night of this tour in Milwaukee:

http://www.muzzleofbees.com/2007/04/23/review-bright-eyes-the-pabst-theater/

There are times when I think it can be cool (if the band members are so emotionally engrained in a song that it just sorta happens), but I'm with you for the most part, Dick Hertz. When I saw BRMC in LA a few weeks ago the show ended with the bass player gently tossing his AMAZINGLY nice vintage bass into the crowd as about 20 hands faught for that thing. Pretty great.

More on the story here:

http://www.saddle-creek.com/webboard/viewtopic.php?t=84649&sid=04b1b17e692e00d0f54a4c85e05b7585

i agree with Dick- that's the same reason i hated the Arcade Fire's appearance on SNL. if you want to be so countercultural, how about starting by avoiding rock-star cliches and basic American wastefulness?

im just excited to see him in his nice new prada suit -- why does he do stuff like this? damn you conor for making it hard to continue supporting you-

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/arts/music/24brig.html?ex=1180756800&en=6e42a5e10cc26b50&ei=5070

how was Gillian Welch? Wish I could see her play on this tour.

why does BV need reviews of shows in Beantown?

How was Gillian Welch? Man, she is great.

andrew--

you wrote "... the same reason i hated the Arcade Fire's appearance on SNL... basic American wastefulness?"

the arcade fire is CANADIAN. america didn't invent wastefulness you self-righteous bastard, rich people around the world are, and have always been, wasteful.

Canada is America

yeah, arcade fire is a canadian band, but the butlers are from texas, and win did the smashing. does that really make you so upset you must call someone a "self-righteous bastard"? geez, anonymous, he was just making a point.

regardless, wasting beautiful instruments is a terrible thing, no matter who you are or where you're from. that BRMC story really epitomizes how bands should treat their fans...after all, who are they without us?

also, i'm pretty excited to attend tonight, prada suit or not.

I don't know what show you were at. I was there and the show was AMAZING.

Bright Eyes came to Beantown for their second time in the past few months. And it was an INCREDIBLE show. There was alot of energy and the band played together expertly.

They did (in no particular order):

From Cassadaga:
-Clairaudients
-Four Winds
-No one would riot for less
-Make a plan to love me
-Soul Singer in a session band (best Cassadaga song of the night)
-Hot Knives
-I must beloing somewhere- he said it is the song they'll play in
Boston the morning after the Big Dig is completed LOL
-Middleman - he said this was about doing mescalin in the desert ??
He said it was a more meaningful love song than 'First Day...' was.. LOL

From Digital Ash...:
-Gold Mine Gutted
-I beleive in Symmetry (main set finale)

From I'm Wide Awake...:
-Lua
-First Day of my Life (awesome rocking version)
-Road to Joy - to close the show - basically white noise.

From Fevers and Mirrors
-Calendar Hung Itself

Nothing off of Four Winds though, except Four Winds.

He also did two songs in the encore with Gillain Welch that I never heard of. I do not know if they were hers, cover songs, or unreleased songs.

He behaved himself well. I didn't think he was paricurally inebriated. The show ROCKED unlike the 02/27/07 show which was rocking but not like this. And was very loud, but I was in the 3rd row, not far from the speakers.

The overhead projection thing was surprisingly good. I thought it would be distracting, but it wasn't.

Opening acts Annie Hall and Gillian Welch were incredible too. both bands joined Conor onstage for the screaming finale of Road to Joy, which after they trashed the stage and several instruments. LOL

A great show - well worth the aggravation I went through to finally get the tickets!! It was truly amazing.

The stage trashing bit I hear he does at alot of the shows on this tour.

Again, I dont know what show you were at, but I though this show was awesome.
Enjoy NYC!!

I don't know what show you were at. I was there and the show was AMAZING.

Bright Eyes came to Beantown for their second time in the past few months. And it was an INCREDIBLE show. There was alot of energy and the band played together expertly.

They did (in no particular order):

From Cassadaga:
-Clairaudients
-Four Winds
-No one would riot for less
-Make a plan to love me
-Soul Singer in a session band (best Cassadaga song of the night)
-Hot Knives
-I must beloing somewhere- he said it is the song they'll play in
Boston the morning after the Big Dig is completed LOL
-Middleman - he said this was about doing mescalin in the desert ??
He said it was a more meaningful love song than 'First Day...' was.. LOL

From Digital Ash...:
-Gold Mine Gutted
-I beleive in Symmetry (main set finale)

From I'm Wide Awake...:
-Lua
-First Day of my Life (awesome rocking version)
-Road to Joy - to close the show - basically white noise.

From Fevers and Mirrors
-Calendar Hung Itself

Nothing off of Four Winds though, except Four Winds.

He also did two songs in the encore with Gillain Welch that I never heard of. I do not know if they were hers, cover songs, or unreleased songs.

He behaved himself well. I didn't think he was paricurally inebriated. The show ROCKED unlike the 02/27/07 show which was rocking but not like this. And was very loud, but I was in the 3rd row, not far from the speakers.

The overhead projection thing was surprisingly good. I thought it would be distracting, but it wasn't.

Opening acts Annie Hall and Gillian Welch were incredible too. both bands joined Conor onstage for the screaming finale of Road to Joy, which after they trashed the stage and several instruments. LOL

A great show - well worth the aggravation I went through to finally get the tickets!! It was truly amazing.

The stage trashing bit I hear he does at alot of the shows on this tour.

Again, I dont know what show you were at, but I though this show was awesome.
Enjoy NYC!!

I don't know what show you were at. I was there and the show was AMAZING.

Bright Eyes came to Beantown for their second time in the past few months. And it was an INCREDIBLE show. There was alot of energy and the band played together expertly.

They did (in no particular order):

From Cassadaga:
-Clairaudients
-Four Winds
-No one would riot for less
-Make a plan to love me
-Soul Singer in a session band (best Cassadaga song of the night)
-Hot Knives
-I must beloing somewhere- he said it is the song they'll play in
Boston the morning after the Big Dig is completed LOL
-Middleman - he said this was about doing mescalin in the desert ??
He said it was a more meaningful love song than 'First Day...' was.. LOL

From Digital Ash...:
-Gold Mine Gutted
-I beleive in Symmetry (main set finale)

From I'm Wide Awake...:
-Lua
-First Day of my Life (awesome rocking version)
-Road to Joy - to close the show - basically white noise.

From Fevers and Mirrors
-Calendar Hung Itself

Nothing off of Four Winds though, except Four Winds.

He also did two songs in the encore with Gillain Welch that I never heard of. I do not know if they were hers, cover songs, or unreleased songs.

He behaved himself well. I didn't think he was paricurally inebriated. The show ROCKED unlike the 02/27/07 show which was rocking but not like this. And was very loud, but I was in the 3rd row, not far from the speakers.

The overhead projection thing was surprisingly good. I thought it would be distracting, but it wasn't.

Opening acts Annie Hall and Gillian Welch were incredible too. both bands joined Conor onstage for the screaming finale of Road to Joy, which after they trashed the stage and several instruments. LOL

A great show - well worth the aggravation I went through to finally get the tickets!! It was truly amazing.

The stage trashing bit I hear he does at alot of the shows on this tour.

Again, I dont know what show you were at, but I though this show was awesome.
Enjoy NYC!!

I don't know what show you were at. I was there and the show was AMAZING.

Bright Eyes came to Beantown for their second time in the past few months. And it was an INCREDIBLE show. There was alot of energy and the band played together expertly.

They did (in no particular order):

From Cassadaga:
-Clairaudients
-Four Winds
-No one would riot for less
-Make a plan to love me
-Soul Singer in a session band (best Cassadaga song of the night)
-Hot Knives
-I must beloing somewhere- he said it is the song they'll play in
Boston the morning after the Big Dig is completed LOL
-Middleman - he said this was about doing mescalin in the desert ??
He said it was a more meaningful love song than 'First Day...' was.. LOL

From Digital Ash...:
-Gold Mine Gutted
-I beleive in Symmetry (main set finale)

From I'm Wide Awake...:
-Lua
-First Day of my Life (awesome rocking version)
-Road to Joy - to close the show - basically white noise.

From Fevers and Mirrors
-Calendar Hung Itself

Nothing off of Four Winds though, except Four Winds.

He also did two songs in the encore with Gillain Welch that I never heard of. I do not know if they were hers, cover songs, or unreleased songs.

He behaved himself well. I didn't think he was paricurally inebriated. The show ROCKED unlike the 02/27/07 show which was rocking but not like this. And was very loud, but I was in the 3rd row, not far from the speakers.

The overhead projection thing was surprisingly good. I thought it would be distracting, but it wasn't.

Opening acts Annie Hall and Gillian Welch were incredible too. both bands joined Conor onstage for the screaming finale of Road to Joy, which after they trashed the stage and several instruments. LOL

A great show - well worth the aggravation I went through to finally get the tickets!! It was truly amazing.

The stage trashing bit I hear he does at alot of the shows on this tour.

Again, I dont know what show you were at, but I though this show was awesome.
Enjoy NYC!!

Who's Dick Hertz??

Conor is SO cool.

He's an indie badass!

NOT.

Why is he upset -- because his tour soldout and fucks with the delusional concept that-is-"cred," or that he's dressing himself and his band like Earth, Wind & Fire, sans the soul?

He's devolved into the most overrated-whatever of his generation, and nothing but an emo-narcissist who's always been beyond overrated.

What he plays, writes etc. isn't anything Dylan hasn't already done, and effortlessly, at that.

Ryan Adams is the real deal, and he owns the East Village.

Another overated spoiled brat. Seems common these days. Smashing up instruments was cool when The Who did it around 35-40 years ago. Today it's just dumb.How on Earth did this guy sell out 5 nights in NY? I saw them once and I was totally bored.

looks like they released some tix for tonight.

"Considering the sonic quality and powerful songwriting contained on Bright Eyes' latest record Cassadaga, it was a shame to see all the musical, visual, and acoustic luxuries go to waste."

Huh?

I have always been a fan of bright eyes, but when I think of cassadaga the phrase you can't polish a turd comes to mind. Over produced shity songs are still shity songs.

Cassadaga is hands down the most disapointing album in a year that has seen its fair share. (Modest Mouse, Wilco, ect.)

Don't go out to any of these 7 shows to support Conor Obersts lunacy.

"Considering the sonic quality and powerful songwriting contained on Bright Eyes' latest record Cassadaga, it was a shame to see all the musical, visual, and acoustic luxuries go to waste."

Huh?

I have always been a fan of bright eyes, but when I think of cassadaga the phrase you can't polish a turd comes to mind. Over produced shity songs are still shity songs.

Cassadaga is hands down the most disapointing album in a year that has seen its fair share. (Modest Mouse, Wilco, ect.)

Don't go out to any of these 7 shows to support Conor Obersts lunacy.

"Considering the sonic quality and powerful songwriting contained on Bright Eyes' latest record Cassadaga, it was a shame to see all the musical, visual, and acoustic luxuries go to waste."

Huh?

I have always been a fan of bright eyes, but when I think of cassadaga the phrase you can't polish a turd comes to mind. Over produced shity songs are still shity songs.

Cassadaga is hands down the most disapointing album in a year that has seen its fair share. (Modest Mouse, Wilco, ect.)

Don't go out to any of these 7 shows to support Conor Obersts lunacy.

I have seen BE twice. Once in a smaller venue. I enjoyed the Boston show. Conner is an amazing songwriter. People are just jealous of him. They only wish they had half his talent. Sorry for anyone who does not enjoy his shows, that just your loss and our gain. Kudos to Connor for shaking up the boring music world a bit, and not shoving overplayed radio songs down our throats.

"How on Earth did this guy sell out 5 nights in NY? "

seven

I was there, and I was a little disappointed at the show. I've seen Bright Eyes a couple times, there much better in a smaller venue without the matching suits and insane number of instruments. I thought it was a little boring until his (clearly) drunken outburst at the end. I also thought the overhead projection looked like bad, cheesy art video. Overall though, the show wasn't too bad.

I was at the Dallas show and Conor tried to give his guitar to the audience, but the security guards took it away from the people who got it. Just sayin.

I'm not a big Bright Eyes fan at all, but went to this show (free ticket...). Pretty boring show up until the end, a little 12 minute noise version of ode to joy or whatever its called. awesome 12 minutes.

Bright Eyes is the best band ever, in my opinion. The guy who doesn't like them, his opinion doesn't count.