Bright Eyes - London Shepherds Bush Empire - 4/7/07
4/5
By: Alex Lee Thomson
The last time Conor Oberst and his band of intrepid musicians came to our shores from small town America it was a little disappointing with the set list not reflecting the band that we all knew, so rightly the crowd were on edge as to what side of Bright Eyes we'd get to see this time. When the opening beat of 'Clairaudients' played to a 12 piece band all dressed in matching white suits walking on with Oberst in his rightful centre-stage stance, wonderment wasn't even on the cards... the band were going to give this their all and us lucky bastards were going to be a part of it.
As we stood in the photo-pit, post interview and pre gig, there was a sense of electricity and whispers from the eager audience, partly wondering what songs would be listed and party moaning about not being able to have a fag, but all of them literally wide-eyed in anticipation for the bands arrival. Halfway through 'Clairaudients' the crowd had settled into a comfortable singsong. Conor looked dazzling, far away from the teenage-like anxiety of his 'Wide Awake/Digital Ash' tour, instead looking like a man who knew what he was doing, proficient and spellbinding, drowning in the glory of his immaculately in-tune voice. 'Hot Knives', the indisputably fantastic new single from the band came in next and had the sold out venue buzzing with gobsmacked merriment, cherishing the jerky lightning fast reflexes of the US songwriter. It's proof that Bright Eyes aren't just getting by with what could be a placid genre, but constantly pushing it as far as it'll go and revealing more of themselves with each new album, and in this case, each new track. It breezed through to 'If The Brakeman Turns My Way', the accompanying joint a-side to the single, which found the Rockfeedback camp jumping out of their seats and brandishing their arms around to the sound of, "mixed up signals, movin' out, bullet train, movin' out", the candescent intensity of this remarkable band unravelling before us.
The lyrics on the new album are more expressive, better thought and magnified into an intensity that doesn't need the aggression of 'Road To Joy' and the like, instead they find identity in their own right as directional and complex fan-favourites. The audience became more captivated with each passing whimsical moment of inspiring music, the smoke-less air becoming thick with atmosphere and awe, swooning isolations of poignant and heavy poetry onto the brickwork of such a formidable backing sound made up with some of the finest American musicians. Even if you don't like country music, which is in respect the key genre to the current Bright Eyes movement, it doesn't matter as the captivation and energy that Conor expresses throughout is beyond the boundaries of simple explanation, instead questioning you every step of the way with a sense of San Franciscan, circa 1973, folded folk indie. You're really abhorrent to say it as everybody does, and you hate to blow the guy up into an unreachable goal, but Oberst truly is our generations' Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan rolled up into a modern day songsmith of Jeff Buckley-like heart wrenching capacity.
The inclusion of last rounds' standards, including 'Gold Mine Gutted', attached the band to their previous albums beautifully and completed the show as a real rock 'n' roll event, as well as the endearing new material recital it rightly was, harmoniously rich in a running, breathless vocalisation of probably the best lyrics of 2007. The gig was made by Oberst's escapist sonnet 'First Day Of My Life', which when played with his full band took on a life of its own becoming almost unrecognisable, harshly enrapturing and stretched out with a texture its never had before.
The rest of the set was alive, the angry but loving 'Soul Singer In A Session Band' to the 'Wide Awake' anthem 'At The Bottom Of Everything' which maybe lost some emotion without the preceding story but destroyed the floorboards of the London scene, the whole night feeling as though we'd been lucky enough to spy yet again into the mind of this prolific genius. Oberst played a completely different set of songs from his previous London dates and that's the magic of Bright Eyes, the utter variety of his back catalogue meaning he can dip into albums and take tunes almost at random and it still works, providing he joins them together well with some momentous numbers such as the array of anthems he threw at us on 4th July. No mentions of America were made, no political wash to the event, just great music and a blistering display of what's regarded by his contemporaries as the most significant music, with certainly the most significant lyrics of a new generation.
All photographs copyright Alex Lee Thomson and Rockfeedback 2007.
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment