Bright Eyes in Boston May 24, 2007
 by Kathy S-B  ·  26 May 2007

You either get Bright Eyes or you don’t. It’s hard to ride the fence when it comes to Conor Oberst, this alternative / emo folk-rock persona who plays with a rotating group of multi-instrumentalists from Omaha. I’ve only been aware of Oberst for about two years or so. I heard a couple of songs from “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” and I was hooked enough to get that CD and then start acquiring his back catalog. The plaintive and simple lyrics grabbed me, The layered sounds and complex arrangements were clever. Oberst’s voice, far from trained, was natural and real — the voice of Every One.

Some people can’t tolerate Bright Eyes. They only hear a whining voice and a lot of noise. It takes patience and a certain amount of open-mindedness to get beyond a cursory listen. I, for one, am glad that I have persevered and have grown to appreciate this music more and more.

One of the best aspects of being a Bright Eyes fan is that my teenage daughter and I can enjoy this music together. I’ve seen her through various music phases but Bright Eyes seems to have a special kind of staying power. We’ve seen Bright Eyes in concert three times in the past two years and it keeps getting better as Oberst matures as an artist.

The latest Bright Eyes recording is called “Cassadaga.” The closest thing I can compare this CD to is Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions project. The joyous fiddle, the tight playing, the soaring vocals. It’s all there and it’s probably Bright Eyes’ brightest moment to date. It’s much more polished than his earlier work and it’s probably the most accessible work he’s done. There’s something to be said for the raw music he’s produced, but “Cassadaga” is a great place for the uninitiated to begin.

On this past Thursday, Bright Eyes played to a full house at the Citi Center (formerly the Wang Theatre). The devotees were there to pay homage at the shrine that Conor Oberst built. In fact, the evening was akin to a revival meeting of sorts. The Bright Eyes band — all ten or twelve of them (I lost track!) were all dressed in white and the stage was decorated with large white Grecian type pillars that held monstrously big arrangements of fresh flowers. Above the band was a large screen where images were being ‘created” by a member of the Bright Eyes entourage on an overhead projector at the rear of the auditorium. You had to be there. Suffice it to say, it was “unique.”

Highlights: “Four Winds,” “Soul Singer in a Session Band,” and most definitely the encore songs including “Lua” in which Gillian Welch and David Rawlings joined Conor on stage. The final song “Road to Joy” ended up as like a bizarre scene from a Fellini film—-with Conor destroying his acoustic guitar and then tipping the drums upside down, and other members of the band joining in the crazy cacophony of noise and destruction, leaving the sax player alone on one of those Grecian pillars playing the last long lonely notes of the evening.

Note: Bright Eyes is not for the faint of heart. The music is experimental. It’s courageous. It’s fun but it’s also sad and full of pent-up frustrations that are part of the daily lives that we wake up to every morning. Listening to this music allows us to dig deep and let our guards down enough to let the spirit in.

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