By: Jim Brunzell III
On the eve of the Twin Cities Vote for Change concert at the Xcel Energy Center, Bright Eyes lead singer Conor Oberst took the stage at the gloomy and smoky 400 bar for a “secret” headlining show. Once on stage he began to strum an acoustic guitar with both eyes closed. Looking as if he didn’t have a care in the world, he brushed back his dangling hair before his voice brought the noisy crowd down to a hush. Fragile is one word to describe his opening song, or another could very well be discomforting. Maybe he didn’t sleep well, or maybe he was hung over, but the apparent lack of effort of the first song seemed to take the audience by surprise. Movement was hardly visible other than his mouth and his arms.
Minutes later on his next song, Oberst was alive and animate. Tip toeing a little to his right, maybe to get a better view of his audience or just adjusting his guitar strap, Oberst started in on, “Waste of Paint.” Standing center stage under one dim light his energy multiplied and his words became crisper and louder. “Will my number come up eventually/Like love is some kind of lottery, where you scratch and see what is underneath/ It’s ‘Sorry’ just one cherry, ‘Play Again.’ Get lucky.”
Oberst drew out his phrasing longer and his voice seemed more strained than it does on this track on Bright Eyes magnificent album from 2002, Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground. The crowd was “Lifted” indeed, along with Oberst who was prepared to play for an audience ready for his unusual folk/rock style. Let’s not forget that a popular belief amongst this audience was that one Bruce Springsteen was going to make an appearance in the club that evening. But as I looked over to my left, seeing a sign on a table with the words ‘RESERVED’ I did notice one Michael Stipe sitting by himself at the table. I should add that Mr. Stipe also appeared to have three security people standing by his side all evening as well. Peter Buck, on the other hand, was walking around the bar drinking beer after beer.
Springsteen never did show up, by the way, and I’m sure all those people wearing ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ and ‘Asbury Park’ jackets were disappointed and couldn’t figure out why R.E. M. showed up at the 400 bar but not their beloved “Boss.”
The sound was good, and even standing toward back of the bar by the merchandise booth, I could see Oberst perfectly, and hear him sing and yell just fine, but I had a problem hearing him when he talked. His voice was too soft when he spoke about his political agenda and views. I thought the whole purpose of the Vote for Change tour was to confirm that Minnesota is an important state for this upcoming election, along with the rest of the US, but I didn’t hear a damn thing except “Bush is wrong,” and well, I knew that when I got out of bed that morning.
Half of Bright Eyes fourteen song set was Oberst alone on stage with his acoustic guitar, while the other half was with a full band. Though he didn’t announce any of his song titles all evening, I’m guessing some of the songs are from his two upcoming albums, both to be released on Saddle Creek in January, 2005. I can say is the best song he played (by far) all evening was, “One Foot in Front of the Other.” “Our future hangs over our heads/And it moves with each current event/until it falls all around us like a cold steady rain.” Those lyrics spoke more than any other words I heard from him all evening. It didn’t hurt that the song was accompanied with a dazzling and haunting trumpet solo.
What left me disappointed about the show was that this was the third time I’ve seen Mr. Oberst play in a year and a half and I still haven’t heard play any of my favorite songs. (I understand, this time around, he probably chose to play more from his political catalog of songs rather than his more entertaining songs.) But he seems to be playing more for himself and a lot less for the audience who might like to see him perform “The City has Sex”, “The Center of the World”, “From a Balance Beam”, or “Lover, I Don’t have to Love”, etc. I mean would it have hurt to play “Sunrise, Sunset”?
Location Info:
400 Bar
Artist Info: Bright Eyes
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