Bright Eyes Show Review
Singer/songwriter Ross Beamish talks about the recent Bright Eyes show at the Paramount in Seattle
What songs did they nail?
Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed) (from the new album Cassadaga), Four Winds (Cassadaga), Hot Knives (Cassadaga). As part of the Bright Eyes encore they played Road to Joy – the last song on last album I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning – and it was a dream come true.
Too Big a Band?
The steel guitar and base player are the only permanent members, besides Conor Oberst, in Bright eyes. By having the string section they pulled off the Cassadaga’s sound. The strings were good, and into it, despite being tour-only musicians. Keys and trumpets – sick.
[Oberst has been criticized about the explosion of the band's sound on Cassadaga* -- Matt]
How was the Sound, Lights, Venue?
The show was cool looking, sounded fine. [The projections on the band, which you can see in my photos, were really inventive, and IMHO dovetailed nicely with the music -- Matt]
Did they play too much new material?
If I was a younger fan, I would have wanted to hear stuff from Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground, Digital Ash in a Digital Urn , but me, I love his country stuff. If he would have played more off Wide Awake it would have been even better.
His rendition of First Day of My Life — he made it a rock song and nobody was feeling it. People get married to that song. I think he was trying to make a joke out of it because of its popularity.
* The Stranger had something to say about the newer sound:
String sections, steel guitar, backing choirs, samples, electronic interference—layer upon layer of sonic diffusion—collude with Oberst’s unbridled vision and leave the listener dizzy and fatigued. Imagine a 13-song album full of “A Day in the Life.”
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I thought this show was really great. I would’ve wanted to here more Digital Ash – I like it’s flavor. The lighting and effects were superb. The song selection was everything I had hoped for and more. Clairaudients gave me goosebumps, Four Winds was unsurpassable and energetic, and by the time Lime Tree came around, everyone was in tears. Road To Joy was nothing short of perfect. Beautiful, raw, and satirical – we all felt every word being flung at us. Not to mention Conor pointed and threw a handful of flowers to me. ha 10 out of 10. I can only hope for another show as good as this was.