i saw bright eyes and arab strap last night at trees.
i don't know arab strap very well, but they played a very nice set. the crowd was truly obnoxious and talked all the way through, and i couldn't understand a thing the lead singer said. oh well.
bright eyes was a bit of a let down. conner oberst is trying a little too hard to "rock" and his band (including a very over-zealous drum player with a huge afro) obliged him. i loved bright eyes as minimal folky depessing indie rockers ? a lá fevers and mirrors. in my opinion that's the best work from mr. oberst so far, althought there were a few nice moments on the desperacidos album. last night though it seemed like the band was trying to infuse some sort of punk-emo-rock vibe into most of the songs, and it really wasn't to my liking. the highlight of the show was the first encore, when conner played a very nice acoustic version of "a song to pass the time".
it was kind of an annoying show overall. it was way too crowded and full to the brim with people who really should go back to listening to pop-emo on the radio. despite this dismal review i'm glad i went to the show, although i must say i lost some respect for conner. dayz-o-lay .
Posted by rett at April 17, 2003 02:02 PM | TrackBack