Get Well Cards - Conor Oberst
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band played a good but not amazing show at the Variety Playhouse Friday night. Good, because it convinced me to buy the new four-song tour LP they were selling in the lobby. Not amazing because out of the songs they played that I was familiar with, I preferred the recorded versions. Not because the live versions were so bad, but because the live setting didn't add much to the Conor Oberst experience.
No longer billed as Bright Eyes, Oberst is enlisting the Mystic Valley Band to make music that's a little less ambitious and not quite as unique. This made for a tight singalong album that played to their strengths as folk rockers with pop sensibilities. Oberst is still the quivering balladeer and the more traditional surroundings are a good match now that he's maturing well into his 20s. He's not the boy genius heir to Dylan (groan) that kind of looks like a girl anymore. Now he's got three guitars in his band, maybe unnecessary for his style of music, but it adds muscle to the sound. That, along with his side burns, declare his status as a grown man playing grown man music, even when he's at his most fragile.
I fell for Oberst's music hard when a friend gave me burned copies of I'm Wide Awake It's Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, two albums he released on the same day in 2005. On I'm Wide Awake, the traditional folk-rock destination he is presently at was clear. On Digital Ash, he put together an industrial folk exploration that remains the most different yet familiar album I've heard. Both were exciting and honest albums with lyrics and a voice specific to a year in his life, but written and sang in a way that was universal and timeless.
On Friday night he ignored the Bright Eyes years and played solely new songs and selections from the self-titled album that came out earlier this year. Not as meaningful for me, but still one of the better collections of songs recorded this year. Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band came out like they had a job to do. They even stopped a new one, "Ten Women," to start over when Oberst flubbed the beginning of the second verse. "I want to get it right tonight," he said.
In the early goings of the show, it seemed so important for the band to get it technically right, that it lacked spirit. When Conor held the guitar away from his body for some acoustic strumming in an early song, it didn't seem like showmanship, but rather a demonstration of the disconnect he was feeling with his guitar.
The music got better as the concert went on. For example, "Moab" a great road song lacked energy while the boring on record "Milk Thistle" closed out the first set and was a highlight of the night. For the song, most of the band left the stage as Oberst and bassist Macey Taylor played for each other, getting each note exactly where they wanted it. Everyone was quiet and soaked in the sadness. Not exactly the greatest song to have the crowd cheering for an encore, but moving nonetheless. "Sausalito" and "Get Well Cards" were highlights as well, benefiting from placement later on in the set list, after the band got comfortable. The new arrangement for "Cape Canaveral" fell flat that night, but it seemed to have worked a few nights before in D.C.
At the end of the night, I had heard great songs and seen a good show. I hope they record the new songs they played that didn't make it onto the tour LP. I'm excited for future Oberst albums, but the best live setting for his type of music might be more along the lines of Eddie's Attic rather than Variety. The smaller the venue the better for such an intimate performer. Maybe that's why it sounds better at home.
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