Bright Eyes - "The First Day of My Life" and "Road to Joy"
The best decision I've made so far in 2007: getting tickets to two shows during Bright Eyes seven night stand at Town Hall.
The worst decision I've made so far in 2007: not getting tickets to more shows during Bright Eyes seven night stand at Town Hall.
The shows I saw Monday and Wednesday nights with Moria the concert pal will easily go down as two of the best this year. Like the entire run, both nights had great special guests (Monday = Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis; Wednesday = Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard), great live versions of songs from the fine new album Cassadega ("Soul Singer in a Session Band" kicks ass), a great mix of covers and older tunes and frontman Conor Oberst in a really great mood. Props go to the Bowery Presents folks who convinced Oberst to do this run and try to make it something special every night.
Monday's highlight was a reworked version of "The First Day of My Life" from I'm Wide Awake Its Morning. It could be called a "rocking" version, but that doesn't quite capture the rollicking groove that stellar drummer Janet Weiss injected into the song. It made a happy tune about love even happier. Look for yourself:
I smiled at the end of the song in spite of myself. As I searched for a clip of this performance, I stumbled across the very heartwarming video as well:
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Its sooooo cute I might poop my pants.
Anyway, Wednesday closed with a shake the rafters and rip the seats out of this joint take on "Road to Joy." When Oberst yelled, "Let's fuck it boys, make some noise," the 17 people on stage (yeah, that's right, seventeen) made a cacophony of sound that was still ringing in my ears and my brain the next day. And while I didn't find a version from that night, the version that closed out the entire run Friday night was just as apocalyptic:
I was so pumped after "Road to Joy" I forced Moria to high five me. (Sorry about that MM, but thanks yet again for turning me onto Bright Eyes.) When we got on the F train to head to Brooklyn, I couldn't help but think I had witnessed an artist taking a leap up to a higher level and that fans will be talking about these Town Hall shows in the same way Bruce Springsteen fans reminisce about those legendary shows at the Bottom Line in 1975.
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1 comment:
1) i appreciate the incorporation of youtube into the blog.
2) i remember the first time i saw the video for "first day of my life" i was SO shocked by how sweet it is. i mean, i don't know what other kind of video you could have made for that song, but i couldn't imagine conor getting so cute.
3) whoa, gillian wore a different dress on friday!
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