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It is hard to call Bright Eyes’ frontman Connor Oberst old or grown up as he only recently turned 27, but having recorded and released albums since the age of 14 it may be safe to say that he has found a new sense of stability and maturity in his craft. Not only does his latest and album of the year front runner Cassadaga, his “Americana” album, reflect this but his live performance this Sunday at the Walt Disney Concert Hall only serves as re-enforcement. However, the themes of life, love, war, drugs and death are all still present in his songs but now in a more subtle and refined manner.
“This is a strange place for us to play,” Oberst said in a transition between songs in reference to the ethereal Walt Disney Concert Hall. While the outside is a twisted wave of metal, the hall itself is intimate and, as one can imagine, acoustically spectacular. In this hall his music has never sounded better, “Four Winds” and the epic finale “Road To Joy” were immense and full as they boomed off the acoustically tuned wooden panels, while the slower, more intimate songs, “Lua” and “First Day Of My Life.” were sweet and resonate.
It may be that the performance consisted greatly of songs off Cassadaga, an album full of upbeat and hopeful tracks, more so than previous efforts, but there was sense as he stood in front of his band that he truly has come of age and will continue as one of the premier song writers in American music.
More stills from this show can be seen at my Flickr photoset
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"In this hall his music has never sounded better, “Four Winds” and the epic finale “Road To Joy” were immense and full as they boomed off the acoustically tuned wooden panels, while the slower, more intimate songs, “Lua” and “First Day Of My Life.” were sweet and resonate."
Where were you sitting? I could not hear any of his words when the full band was playing.
Someone in the audience even said "I can't hear your words".
Conor replied: "You can't hear my words? Ok I'll use bet-ter dic-tion for the rest of the night".
Conor wasn't the problem, really. It was his band. Bass and drums were amplified and they drowned out the strings, flute and mostly everything else.
Conor's great, I saw him a few years back at The Orpheum theatre and the sound was much better there.
Bands playing the hall should remember that the La Phil plays without amplifiers so if they add them, its going to drown out the softer instruments and vocals, like it did when Bright Eyes played.
Still, I loved the show. Any excuse to get into the Hall because it is a landmark.
Cheers!
I couldn't agree more with Cherie. The drums were WAY too loud and Road to Joy ended up sounding like just a lot of noise, though fantastic that they played it. Walt Disney Concert Hall is a spectacular venue but it doesn't seem like it was intended for amps. Having said that, it was a great show in a great venue!
Nice pics! The color in those shots look so vivid.
For the first couple of songs, the vocals were pretty bad. You couldn't hear the female lead during "Make A Plan to Love Me". However they seemed to fix it after that dude yelled to Connor about not being able to hear the vocals and Connor replied "Maybe I'm slurring the words."
I was changing shooting positions when he said he was slurring but by the time I was done shooting and got to my seat I thought it sounded great...oh well. Yes the drums were loud but I was right in the middle and could hear everything perfectly...yes road to joy was loud but I wouldnt want to hear it any other way!
Thanks for the comment on the pics.