Bright Eyes @ Bowery Ballroom (Night 1): Simple Songs Of Hope

Wow. Bright Eyes completed floored me last night. I was expecting a great show, but not an exceptionally spectacular one. Conor and co. were magical last night. Truly flawless. One of the best shows I've ever seen at Bowery Ballroom, for sure.

Bright Eyes is in town promoting his Four Winds EP, as well as next month's full-length, Cassadaga. The set (see below) featured mostly tracks from these aforementioned releases sprinkled with a Jon Brion Prine cover (thanks Nathan!), a few tracks from I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and some crowd-pleasing rarities.

Conor has never been as passionate and engaging (and even humorous!) as last night. Telling stories of bong creations with his brother, Justin (who was in attendance), a brief rant about Bush, and even a great jab at one of the hecklers in the balcony.





About halfway through the set, as I predicted earlier in the night, good friend M. Ward joined Conor for about half dozen tunes, a la M. Ward's Town Hall show a few weeks back, when Conor collaborated with Matt at the end of his set (review here).

The duet, of course, was amazing. The two teamed up on my favorite track from Four Winds EP, 'Smoke Without Fire' as well as a few others. Splendid!

And as promised, here's the setlist (will Conor mix it up at tonight's gig?):

Cassadaga will be out on April 10th and features collaborations with members of Sleater-Kinney as well as Matt Ward. If last night is any indication, it will surely become one of my favorites of the year.

MP3: Bright Eyes - Cartoon Blues