A screen capture from Conor Oberst’s new video for “Zigzagging Toward the Light.”

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Some background on the cover story / interview with Conor Oberst in this week’s issue of The Reader…

It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to ask Oberst any questions. The last interview was way back in 2007 in support of Cassadaga. Oberst — or more accurately, his presss agent, Press Here — has turned down requests for interviews by small press such as The Reader ever since.

I hadn’t even bothered to ask when it came time to do media for the release of Upside Down Mountain, figuring the request would simply be rejected again. Then Marc Leibowitz of One Percent Productions emailed saying Oberst was indeed doing interviews for this release and in support of his June 4 show at Sokol Auditorium. I emailed Press Here and was told that Conor would do the interview, but because he was so busy, he could only do it via e-mail.

E-mail interviews are difficult — you never know how the artist will reply. The answers could literally be one or two words, as were the replies from Bill Callahan from Smog when I conducted an e-mail interview with him years ago. Plus, e-mail doesn’t provide an avenue for follow-up questions. You get what you get. It was a shame because whether face-to-face or over the phone, Oberst is among the best at doing one-on-one interviews.

A couple days went by and the questions were due. So I tapped out what was on my mind, figuring because of the personal nature of the questions, he may not respond.

Among those personal questions: Way back in 2010, I received a tip from a very reliable source that Oberst had run off and got married in New York City the prior weekend. Knowing the source, I knew it was true, but didn’t want to get him in trouble. Instead, I rattled off a letter to Saddle Creek Records, recapping what I’d been told. The reply: “Conor has a new album coming out ….” it was the classic non-denial denial. I guess I could have figured out a way to look up his marriage license in NYC, but I didn’t have the resources or, frankly, the interest. Without confirmation, reporting that Oberst got married would be no more than gossip. Why was it a secret?

This was just a few months after the Concert for Equality in Benson. Oberst had emerged as a celebrity leader and voice against U.S. anti-immigrant laws in the summer of 2010. Conor was doing interviews in support of the concert, but questions would be limited to politics, so I decided to pass even though there was one burning question I was dying to ask: What was really driving the protest? Was there a personal relationship behind his political passion? In the end, no one ever bothered to ask.

I got some of my questions answered in this Reader interview. In fact, Conor answered every questions I sent him. Read the full Q&A transcript in this week’s issue of The Reader, or online right here.

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Speaking of Conor, here’s his new video for “Zigzagging Toward the Light.” It’s pretty trippy.

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Today is Give to Lincoln Day, the sister effort to last week’s Omaha Gives! day. That means if you live in Lincoln (or even if you don’t) it’s time to donate $10 to Hear Nebraska through the Give to Lincoln website. By giving through the site, a portion of your donation will be eligible for a match via the Lincoln Community Foundation.

I outlined the reasons last week why every musician, venue, promoter and local music fan should support Hear Nebraska (right here) so I won’t tell you again (though you can always go back and reread it). Come on. Give. It’s only $10.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

“Can I get a goddamn crescent roll?”

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Flickr, that old-fashioned online digital photo service that competes with Instagram, recently got bought by Yahoo!, that old-fashioned search engine that competes with Google. Apparently Flickr’s “cool” factor was a major selling point. Well, looks like Flickr is amping up that cool factor by enlisting Bright Eyes to sell its services, as all of you who were watching Game 3 of the NBA Finals last night can attest.

The song, again, was “First Day of My Life,” the same Bright Eyes song used in that Zillow ad last year. Someone at the ad agency scoured the song’s lyrics and pulled out only two lines: “Yours is the first face that I saw / Think I was blind before I met you,” sings Conor while a pug flips through its photo archive on its iPad. Needless to say, the connection between song and product isn’t quite as seamless as in that Zillow ad, but I guess it doesn’t matter as long as the check clears.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Here’s some news bits found whilst going through my email box this morning:

For what may be the closest thing you’re going to get to a new Bright Eyes album in the foreseeable future, Varèse Sarabande Records will release the Stuck in Love – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally May 28 and on CD and vinyl June 11, 2013.

Written and directed by Josh Boone, the film features an original score by Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott (of Bright Eyes), and new songs “At Your Door” (by Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott featuring Big Harp), “You Are Your Mother’s Child” (by Conor Oberst) and “Somersaults In Spring” (by Friends of Gemini: Corina Figueroa Escamilla, Nathaniel Walcott and Mike Mogis). The film, which IMDB lists as 2012 release but is slated for theaters June 13, 2013, stars Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly, and Kristen Bell.

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Speaking of Oberst projects, Desaparecidos announced this morning that they will playing at The Waiting Room Oct. 22. Tix go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. for $25. The gig is part of a 12-date tour that starts Oct. 20 in Englewood, CO, and closes out Nov. 4 at The Fonda Theater in LA.

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You remember Alessi Laurent-Marke, don’t you? The super talented, super-cute Brit who once called Omaha home has a band that goes by the name Alessi’s Ark, and the video for that band’s first single, “Tin Smithing,” from their new album, The Still Life (Bella Union) just went online (embedded below). Alessi’s headed to these shores on tour, but so far, no Omaha date. We miss you Alessi!

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Omaha’s songwriter laureate Simon Joyner announced yesterday that he’s teaming up with Dennis Callaci of the band Refrigerator (and of the label Shrimper) for a new 11-track LP titled New Secrets. Backing the duo are members of Simon’s band The Ghosts as well as guest spots by Franklin Bruno (Human Hearts, Nothing Painted Blue) & Kevin Morby (Woods / The Babies). The new record hits the bins June 11 on Shrimper. Check out track “The Frayed End of the Rope,” below:

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And finally, eight years after its release, Saddle Creek Records announced today that I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning has been certified gold (500,000 units sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America.

“Measuring the value of art based on sales figures is a ridiculous idea; and clearly there is no direct correlation between album sales and quality,” said label chief Robb Nansel in this online message. “But every once in a while we get reminded of why we do what we do; that our efforts aren’t completely futile; and that music, as cliché as it may sound, can change the world. This feels like that type of moment.”

Congrats to Robb, Jason, Conor and everyone who took part in the making of that record. Soak in the achievement, because gold records for indie labels were extremely rare to begin with, and the way the industry has gone over the past decade, are destined to be a thing of the past.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer released this morning, Conor Oberst talked about writing solo material, the future of Desaparecidos and Bright Eyes.

On Desa: “They haven’t announced it yet, but we are going to do some more shows and put out more music next year.” With Obama winning the election, I can imagine the edge of the Desa knife slightly dulled. Had Romney won, I could see a very fierce future for the band, because there’s nothing like having an asshole in office to spur a punk message. Either way, it’ll be good to get some new Desa. Now if they could just get me that 7-inch single that I ordered last summer; its ship date has been postposted until mid-November.

On his solo work: “My main thing is just to keep writing. I’ve been doing some songwriting that’s for my own record, I suppose. That’ll happen next year, under my own name.”

But Oberst reiterated that Bright Eyes ain’t over. “No. I love playing with Mike and Nate. Hopefully, we’ll do that sometime in the near future. . . . They both worked on a movie called ‘Writers’ that I wrote a song for that will be out next year.”

Read the whole interview here.

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There was a nice feature on Icky Blossoms posted this morning in The Huffington Post. Curious quote: “It can get tricky knowing which band a song belongs to,” Pressnal — who is in five bands — said. Five bands? Let’s see, Tilly, Icky, Flowers… and then… what?

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In this week’s column, how we’re living in a culture where people say hello with a hug, and how I just don’t fit in. Read it in this week’s issue of The Reader, or online right here.

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Based on the last time he came through town, I’m not surprised that tonight’s Bruce Springsteen concert isn’t sold out. That show, in March 2008, sucked. S U C K E D. The review is online here. The only saving grace to having gone to that concert was being able to see Clarence Clemons perform before he died. What would be awesome: Instead of seeing Springsteen at the Century Link echo chamber from a mile away play three hours of redundant, boring songs, seeing him play in a much smaller venue and be forced to do a one-hour set — now that I’d pay big dollars to see.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I was up late last night watching Iron Maiden: Flight 666 on Palladia. The 2009 documentary follows the band on its Somewhere Back in Time Tour — 50,000 miles by way of Ed Force One — a retrofitted Boeing 757 flown by the band’s lead singer Bruce Dickinson. Talk about your Spinal Tap lifestyle. Man, they love their Maiden in South America.

Anyway, during a commercial break on comes a familiar song — Bright Eyes “First Day of My Life” — selling Zillow.com, the online real estate website. Very tastefully done. You can view the commercial above, or on  YouTube here.

As far as I know (other than movie trailers) this was the first time a Bright Eyes recording was used in a TV commercial. In the old days upon seeing an ad like this indie music fans would jump on top of their milk-crate book cases, rip off their flannel shirts and self-righteously pound their chests screaming “SELL OUT!” at their TV screens.

But today, with the music industry drying up like last summer’s drought-baked crops, selling the rights to one of your songs for a TV commercial not only is grudgingly accepted, it’s recognized as just another necessity if you want to feed yourself by making music. In fact, having your music used in a commercial can even be something to be proud of as long as it’s not selling mundane products like baby-back ribs or maxi pads.

I don’t know anything about Zillow, but the company must be reputable or Oberst (probably) wouldn’t let one of his songs be used to sell it. Conversely, Zillow’s ad agency must be hyper-aware of Conor’s past highly vocal political stands and is leveraging that rep not only to attract a late-20s/early 30s demographic who grew up with his music but who also know that Oberst wouldn’t sell a company that screws people. If Conor says Zillow is OK, it must be OK, right?

Needless to say, Conor wasn’t thinking of Zillow when he wrote one of my favorite songs off I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning, a song that according to Wikipedia also has been used in in the 2007 film Elvis and Anabelle and was featured in an episode of NBC’s Chuck. Should artists only be concerned solely about the original intent of their art and wash their hands with how it’s used beyond that original intent? I don’t think that they can be so cavalier. But in an era when most listeners are stealing music online or listening to it on sub-penny-per-play streaming services like Spotify, artists have little choice but to turn their heads when it comes to how their music is used in “secondary markets.” They gave birth to the child; they can’t be responsible for what it does after it leaves the nest…

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In this week’s column, an account of the Corporate Cup from the back of the pack. It’s in this week’s issue of The Reader, or you can read it online right here.

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Fantastic show tonight… in Lincoln. Swans is playing at the Bourbon Theater. One of the most important post New Wave noise bands ever will be performing songs from their latest album, The Seer. Expect ear-bleeding volumes. This should be a fantastic show, too bad it’s in Lincoln and I have to work tomorrow morning. Opening is Xiu Xiu and Vverevvolf Grehv (Dapose from The Faint). $25, 9 p.m.

For those of us stuck here in Omaha, Built to Spill returns to The Slowdown. Doug Martsch and Co. should be named honorary Omahans considering the number of times they’ve played here in the last few years. Opening is Helvetia and Sister Crayon. $20, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile over at The Barley Street Tavern the Electroliners headline a show with Fizzle Like a Flood and Jessica Errett. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Last but not least, old school punk maniacs The Vibrators are playing at The Hideout, 320 So. 72nd St., with local old-school punkers Cordial Spew, SVS, The Shidiots and Barley and Hops (ex shaken babies). $8, 9 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Saddle Creek Records announced today that it’s re-releasing six early Bright Eyes albums on vinyl. We’re talking A Collection of Songs…(2 LPs), Oh Holy Fools (Son Ambulance lives!), Letting Off the Happiness, Every Day and Every Night, Fevers and Mirrors (2 LPs), and There Is No Beginning to the Story.

The doubles are $23 (180-gram), the EPs are $13 and the LPs are $15 (180-gram). Or you can get the lot for $99. Each reissue contains a CD of the album packaged in the jacket. And you also get the digital download for free. That’s a lot of content, folks. Too bad they didn’t get this ready in time for Christmas.

Fevers is the golden one here. And if you’re wondering, the Saddle Creek online store already offers everything including and beyond Lifted on vinyl.

So this got me wondering what was available by the other members of the Creek triumverate. All of Cursive’s LPs from Domestica on are available on vinyl, as are all The Faint’s LP’s from Blank-Wave Arcade on. Saddle Creek always has done a good job with vinyl.

The biggest areas for future exploitation are The Good Life catalog — only Album of the Year and Help Wanted Nights are available on vinyl, which leaves Black Out and one of their best, Novena On a Nocturn, ripe for vinyl reissue. Also for consideration: the entire Now It’s Overhead catalog.

So will all future Saddle Creek vinyl releases come with a free CD and download? For example: You can preorder Cursive’s I Am Gemini for $11 on CD, or for just $4 more get the vinyl, CD and mp3 file. Hey, might as well just buy the vinyl, kids. So far, this free-CD-with-vinyl approach hasn’t become the industry model. Neither Sub Pop, Matador nor Merge are offering a similar deal, yet…

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

When it comes to rock shows, these indeed are the holiday/winter doldrums, especially this year. No holiday reunion shows. No big national indie shows to speak of, and very few for the foreseeable future. The only national indie shows I’m looking forward to are Har Mar Superstar Dec. 30; Craig Finn Feb. 3, Tennis Feb. 22, and Cursive March 3. That’s it. Yeah, I know Lemonheads are coming, but I’ve always thought they sucked.

A Lazy-i reader recently e-mailed asking if I thought there was an unnatural downturn in national shows coming through Omaha.  He pointed out that Cults, Magnetic Fields, Zola Jesus, M83 and Neon Indian are all coming through the area but routing past Omaha. I told him I didn’t know, but that I doubted it. We always experience a lull in touring indie shows during the winter months. A glance at touring indie shows I went to last year at this time: Cursive played Domestica last January, followed by Interpol, Best Coast/Wavves, Pete Yorn and Smith Westerns all last February. Not much else.

We get spoiled in the warmer months with fantastic national touring shows almost every weekend. So spoiled, in fact, that some of the best ones go virtually unattended. I went to a number of shows this past fall that had terrible attendance despite the quality of bands (Future Islands and Milegras come  to mind). I’ll say what I said back then: If you want to continue getting cutting-edge indie bands at our clubs, you need to go to the shows, and when possible, buy tickets in advance. As things warm up, hopefully we’ll begin to see more bands coming through. In the meantime, continue to support our local heroes, who continue to work throughout the winter months…

A few other news and notes on this boring Wednesday…

Bright Eyes, The People's Key (2011, Saddle Creek)

Pitchfork posted its annual list of the top-50 albums last week.The one band missing is also missing from a lot of other year-end lists: Bright Eyes. The People’s Key didn’t make the Pitchfork top 50.  Or the Rolling Stone top 50  or the SPIN top 50  or the Filter Top 20  or even the Paste top 50.

In fact, the only lists I’ve found that included The People’s Key are Magnet‘s top 20 (where it was No. 7),  American Songwriter‘s top 50 (No. 22),  BBC‘s top 25 (No. 25)  and Drowned in Sound‘s top 50 (No. 8). Disappointing? Probably, though I doubt Conor and Co. give a shit. Is the lack of inclusion a reflection of Bright Eyes’ waning popularity or was The People’s Key a misfire? The only thing that matters is how well the album sold and if Bright Eyes continues to draw crowds to concerts. So did The People’s Key make it on the Lazy-i Best of 2011 list? You’ll just have to wait and see.

By the way, you can find almost all of the year-end lists at the fantastic Album of the Year website.

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Tomorrow: Predictions Pt. 1: Looking back at last year’s predictions. Yikes.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A couple interesting new Conor Oberst interviews have surfaced in the past couple days. Both restate what Oberst has been saying for months — Bright Eyes will not be deep-sixed, sun-setted, placed in mothballs and/or permanently unplugged after support tours for The People’s Key conclude.

In a brief Q&A at Canada’s MetroNews site, Oberst again tried to clarify an earlier statement regarding Bright Eyes reported demise: “No, not definitively. We don’t really have any plans for the future at this point, but as far as that whole thing, that was something where someone took a quote that I said [out of context] and that was something that other people decided. We never made an official announcement. Even if it were our last record, we wouldn’t say it was our last record. As the rumour mill works, that’s kind of the way it goes. You can definitely quote me, this is not the last Bright Eyes for sure.”

Oberst reiterated the statement again in this story at hitfix.com. In addition to the breakup denial, the story states that Oberst has no definite plans for any project, including Monsters of Folk or a solo effort. The article also says that Oberst is now living in New York City, though let’s be honest, these days he’s living on the road.

And then there’s this from the article:

Oberst has “gotten out of the music business” in regards to his former label ventures, with Saddle Creek and Team Love. Were he to release an album next year, he’s not even positive what label it’d be on. “Will there even be records in a couple years?” he asked. When it comes to digital channels and pay models like newly launched Spotify, “It’s still sort of the Wild West.”

Though Saddle Creek doesn’t sign multi-release agreements with its artists, I’ve always assumed that any future Bright Eyes LPs would be released on the label, and I still do…

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Speaking of Saddle Creek artists, Tim Kasher has a new video, produced by the crazy kids at Love Drunk, for “Opening Night,” a track off his just-released EP Bigamy, More Songs from the Monogamy Sessions. Try as I might, I can’t get the video to imbed into my WordPress files, so here’s a link. Check it out. It was shot at Saddle Creek’s Ink Tank screen printing plant.

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From the Lazy-i Vault, Aug. 24, 2000: The Music Box had a surprise in store last week. Walking up the venue’s ramp to the front door, you knew something was definitely up. Where was the huddled mass of smokers who usually crowded the deck, sharing ashtrays along with their addiction? Once inside, an old familiar odor answered the question. 

I asked a bartender when they had lifted the prohibition on smoking, a feature that the owners staunchly stood behind when the venue opened a year ago.

“Last Wednesday,” he hollered over the racket.

“Why’d they change their policy?” I yelled.

“To make money.”

Well, it wasn’t all about the Benjamins, Manager J. Rankin said. “This is what the people wanted,” he said. “In all honesty, I would like to see the nonsmoking thing still work, but it’s tough to pull off in the Midwest.”

The idea must have been in the works for a few weeks, judging by the cool little black-and-silver matchboxes embossed with The Music Box logo scattered around the tables. Smoking is limited to the upper-tier bar, as no-smoking signs are everywhere in the lower section. Despite the fact that nary a puff can be smelt in the lower bar, Rankin said further precautions are being taken to keep the smoke out of your eyes. “We’re in the process of adding an additional 15 tons of ventilation,” he said. “The units have 12-inch-thick charcoal filters that take everything out of the air.”

Chances are the fancy air conditioners won’t be up and running for this Saturday’s American Diabetes Association benefit featuring eight bands, including Spiral Locomotive, Project Wet, 8th Wave, The Fonzarellies, Jimmy Skaffa and Chesire Grin. A $10 donation gets you in to the festival-like party that runs from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m.

 Other upcoming acts of note include legendary harmonica player and bluesman Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers, along with the Shufflecats and Lincoln’s Baby Jason and the Spankers Aug. 30; and the reigning father of British Blues John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Sept. 18.

Rankin insists the bar isn’t turning into a blues club. “We’re adding about one blues event a month, which is about the maximum for us on a regular basis,” he said, pointing to an upcoming show featuring former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde Oct. 7.

But what about the local acts? “There’s a multitude of great bands out there we haven’t had in yet, but there’s only so many days in a week,” he said.

Business is good at the Music Box, Rankin said, but there’s still a lot of work to do. “Once summer is over, all the alternative things going on will disappear. We’ll come to our own this fall and winter because of lack of options in town.”

Back to the Present: After lifting its smoking ban, the Music Box stayed open only three more years, closing its doors in October 2003 after an “impasse” with the landlord (or so they said at the time). With what many believed was among the area’s best sound and lighting systems at the time, the club booked a number of interesting national and local bands, including Pinetop Seven, Richard Thompson and locals like Oil and The Good Life. They catered toward more of a mainstream clientele, only occasionally booking indie bands. Strangely, its biggest criticism came from those who thought the club was too sterile, too clean, “too nice.” A few years after it closed, the building that housed The Music Box — and Sharky’s and Firmatures before that — was demolished to make way for a new 24-Hour Fitness.

As for their original non-smoking policy, The Music Box proved to be way ahead of its time, being the only music club that banned the habit back then. Four years after it closed, The Slowdown would adopt the same policy when it opened in June 2007. A year later, a local ordinance banned smoking  altogether in Omaha bars, in June 2008.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Remember that brief aside I made during my review of Bright Eyes’ Westfair Amphitheater concert, the one where I said if the concert had been recorded, it could have been Oberst’s Live at Budokan? Sure you do.

Well, it turns out that while last Saturday night’s show wasn’t recorded, other shows from this tour apparently were, and portions of those shows are going to be released next month as a new EP called Live Recordings, available exclusively through HMV and limited to 1,000 digipack CDs. According to this article in NME, the 6-song recording includes “Firewall,” “Shell Games,” “Ladder Song,” “Arc of Time” “Bowl of Oranges” and “Lover I Don’t Have to Love.”  OK, so maybe it won’t be Oberst’s Budokan after all. What’s that your asking, what exactly is HMV? Well, it’s a U.K.-based music store of which there are none in this country, so I’m thinking you’re probably not going to snag one of those 1,000 digipacks unless you’re headed over the water in the near future.

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BTW, Bright Eyes released a video for its latest single, “Jejune Stars,” which you can watch right here on the YouTube or by clicking above. Very nice, but really, how much different is it than your typical Love Drunk video? Something tells me Django G-S could have done just as good a job, but for slightly less money than was charged by “acclaimed cinematographer Lance Acord” (Being John Malkovich, Lost in Translation).

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It’s surprising to me that tonight’s show at The Slowdown featuring Okkervil River and Titus Andronicus hasn’t sold out yet. Okkervil River will soon be making the momentous jump from a tour van to a tour bus (if they haven’t already). They’re fan base has consistently grown since they first played at The Junction way back in 2002 to 10 people (me among them). I haven’t heard a stitch off their new album, but I know it’s charting well on CMJ. Titus Andronicus is probably still touring in a van, but won’t be for long. With their rousing, epic sing-along punk, I could see them eventually touching a similar audience as The Hold Steady, especially if their show last September is any indication. There is a third opener tonight — Asthmatic Kitty artist Julianna Barwick. All for $18. Starts at 9.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Bright Eyes at Westfair Amphitheater, June 4, 2011

Column 326: Live Review: Bright Eyes at Westfair Amphiteater, 6/4/11

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I begin what seems like my 100th review of a Bright Eyes concert by saying that last Saturday night’s performance at Westfair Amphitheater may have been their best.

Simple put, Conor Oberst put on a rock concert. Not an indie-folk show; not an “intimate acoustic evening of personal confessions.” A rock concert. As heavy a show as he’s probably capable of or would ever want to do. You can say you witnessed Bright Eyes at its peak, if you were there.

It’s a shame so few people were. It would be generous to say 500 were in the crowd by the time I arrived at Westfair at around 7:30. David Bazan a.k.a. Pedro the Lion was finishing a set of droll, dead-pan voiced indie rock songs; it was still light out when Jenny and Johnny hit the stage just after 8, playing what felt like the identical set played at their Waiting Room gig last September.

A few words about the Westfair Amphitheater, a concert venue that’s been around for years but that I’ve never stepped foot in mainly because its usual programming involves Monsters of Rock and/or River-sponsored goon fests. To my knowledge Westfair has never hosted an indie rock show. Hopefully that will change in the future.

The venue is a huge natural amphitheater, sort of like Memorial Park but with steeper slopes and a giant permanent cow palace-style stage. Fans can huddle on the concrete slab in front or set up camp on the grassy banks. Beer tents stood by the sound board and along the ridge where food tents shoveled out pizza and nachos.

No Smoking signs were posted along the perimeter fencing. Considerate smokers were herded to a tiny “smoking corral” at the top of the bowl, presumably away from the healthy people, while the rebels casually lit up throughout the compound, the blue-shirted security bulls casting a blind eye.

A VIP area fenced off with fluorescent orange netting stood along the steep bank off stage right. Inside, members of the Saddle Creek family and their families, friends and bandmates chatted and drank beers — gray-haired men mixed with skinny-jeaned hipsters greeting every visitor with deep hugs and smiles.

Jenny & Johnny, Westfair, 6/4/11

Killing the love buzz from stage was surly “Johnny” Rice, who bragged about “throttling” an investment banker during a Christmas family gathering. “And I only wish I could extend the same to the motherfuckers at Goldman Sachs and ING.” Please. Johnathan Rice is a lot of things, but he ain’t a tough guy.

Jenny and Johnny’s 45-minute set closed with a Rilo Kiley song, “Silver Lining,” that had little Jenny Lewis singing, “Hurray, hurray, I’m your silver lining / Hurray Hurray, but now I’m gold” as dusk set in.

It was almost dark when Bright Eyes finally arrived. The crowd, which had ballooned to what looked like a little over 1,000, erupted when the stage lights dropped and a recording came on of crazy Denny Brewer of Refried Icecream doing his now famous spaceship rant that leads into “Firewall,” the opening number on The People’s Key and among only five songs performed from Bright Eyes’ latest album.

On stage, Oberst and his band glowed pink and purple, their microphone stands lit with strings of LED lights. Behind two glowing umbrella-like stage shells was a large JumboTron that showed video close-ups of a guitar strumming or drums or keyboards or colorful abstract images.

Oberst was clearly in a good mood — a rarity back in the old Wide Awake days. Looking natural with guitar in hand, he put it down only for one keyboard tune and during “Approximate Sunlight,” a low-slung rock song passing as a hip-hop number that saw Oberst strutting around stage like the whitest MC in America, selling each lyric with hand gestures in classic Team Rigge fashion. Awkward. He leaned over the edge of the stage spitting out lines, touching outstretched hands.

Most of the set was a selection from albums past, including chestnuts “Falling Out of Love at This Volume,” and “A Celebration Upon Completion,” both from Bright Eyes’ debut A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997.

There were a few somber moments, but for the most part it was a heavy set driven by The Faint’s Clark Baechle, the best drummer Oberst has ever played with. The guitars were huge and loud. If it had been recorded, this could have been Oberst’s Live at Budokan.

Critics around the country are selling it as Bright Eyes’ farewell tour, and I’m still not sure why. Eyebrows were raised the first time Oberst mentioned he might retire the Bright Eyes moniker. I didn’t believe it; I didn’t care. Oberst is Bright Eyes. But I’ve seen his solo/Mystic Valley/Monsters of Folk outings. None of them had a tenth of the energy on stage Saturday night.

Bright Eyes will always be Oberst’s sweet spot for reasons I’m not entirely sure. Since Cassadaga, he has walked out on stage and stuck the landing every night. It helps that his Bright Eyes’ oeuvre blows away his other projects’ best songs. None of his solo output comes near BE classics like “Lover You Don’t Have to Love” or “Lua” or “Waste of Paint.” And despite being his weakest album since Digital Ash in a Digital Urn,The People’s Key is still better than any of his solo records.

After this endless tour finally ends, Conor Oberst may take a different guise, but we haven’t seen the last of Bright Eyes.

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This one is on my radar simply because of the band’s name — Union Specific, whose catchphrase is “Building Americana.” Nice. The Austin band is playing tonight at Duffy’s in Lincoln with The Betties, Travelling Mercies and Manny Coon. Can’t seem to find a price for this one; starts at 9 p.m. According to the Union Specific website, they band is playing at Crane’s Coffee here in Omaha tomorrow, while hearnebraska.org has them playing at the Fort Cody Trading Post in North Platte tomorrow. I have no idea which one’s right, so buyer beware…

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.