11 March 2005

The New Dylan?


 "Bright Eyes” played the Wedgewood Rooms in Southsea on Wednesday 9th March 2005. Conor Oberst has a superb mastery of words although the comparisons with Dylan I have read may be a little premature. Nonetheless he is a true modern poet. The set list comprised all of “I’m Wide Awake it’s Morning” and a couple of tracks from the less accessible simultaneous release "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn." Best gig I’ve seen there in years. “Lua” was worth the entrance money alone. I won’t write a magazine article just some sights and smells.

400 share shoulder to shoulder intimacy. Bathed arena soft deep crimson bleeding into green. Young and fragile, cracked delivery almost shy. Conor Oberst 24 and ancient. Poet, singer madman Nebraskan heart bare in Hampshire. Lank hair features covered eyeliner. Blue sweater no pretence. 6-piece stunning harmony, pounding bass drum thuds my chest. Guitars cutting through cigarette smoke, beer and sweat.

Staccato percussive chop on muted strings. Mandolin sweetness with mournful brass then pedal steel in full sway. His back to us then comment thrown glibly over shoulder. You may like it you may not. You may be indifferent. Old beyond youth ignores cameras popping flash. Near silence greeting ‘Lua’s’ brushed chords. Declared critic of our fried food. Bending upending bottle by the neck eyes staring piercing defying. Pregnant pause when I’m ready not before.

Pure beauty perfect pitch words of love and death. Plastic beer glass underfoot picture phones wave lofty salute. Screaming raging shouting hatred dread all true. Encore unaccompanied breathtaking rich. Plead yearn insist a bard of subtle touch.

“We might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain.
What was normal in the evening by the morning seems insane.”
Bright Eyes – Lua

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just stopped by to let you know Im still alive and to say thank you for your reply :)

Grace said...

Sounds interesting, I'll have a listen. I miss live music.

Perfect Virgo said...

Doughgirl - thanks for reading and more importantly thanks for confirming your existence!

Grace - Hard to beat the urgency and unpredictability of live music. This one was fairly new to me but our American friends may already be familiar.

Jen said...

This was such an intimate and observant way to write this.