I was all covered in sound
Ear plugs so it wasn’t loud
Swallowed up by the crowd
I didn’t know what they were singing about
I can’t hardly wait
For someone to replace
Someone awkwardly shouts “Conner, you’re cuter than Phoebe” immediately following Better Oblivion Community Center’s first song, “My City.” Oberst starts to reply before being asked if he’d rather have all fingers or all toes.
“That’s easy—all toes,” the musician best known his work as Bright Eyes replies with assured confidence. “How would I play guitar with all toes?”
Singer-songwriters Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst brought their collaborative project, Better Oblivion Community Center to The Bunkhouse Saloon last weekend for their second ever concert—or maybe I should say “meeting,” as the group refers to it on their website. The show certainly felt that way, with the crowd bantering with the musicians on and off during the night (“What’s your Hogwarts house” was the most common question I heard, though we never learned the answer).
It’s fitting that this is the atmosphere that the band has cultivated in their short existence, as their lyrical output often revolves around trying to escape loneliness and isolation. It’s a theme that I can strongly relate to, and it seems I’m not the only one based on the packed house singing along to every song. Music has a tendency to bring people together, and it’s something I’ve always loved about it. This night was no exception.
Better Oblivion Community Center—whose debut was released earlier this year on Dead Oceans—sold out the Bunkhouse, which is made all the more impressive when you find out that this show was held outside. It was similar to the way the venue handles their shows during Punk Rock Bowling. This was the perfect weather for it, and outdoor sound system was surprisingly good at picking up Oberst’s world wary quiver and Bridger’s more youthful, soothing voice.
The group, playing as a full band, played through their entire album, with highlights including soft “Didn’t Know What I was in For” (Bridger’s delicate voice really selling the helplessness of the line “I’ve never really done anything for anyone”), folksy “Chesapeake” (with lines “My hero plays to no one / in a parking lot / Even though there’s no one around / He broke a leg and the house came down” encapsulating the experience of seeing little known artists) and lead single “Dylan Thomas,” a rollicking earworm with Bridgers and Oberst singing slightly off from each other to emphasize a disconnect between the two narraters.
With only one album to their name, Better Oblivion Community Center rounded out their hour long set by peppering in covers. I was most excited to hear a rollicking rendition of The Replacements classic “Can’t Hardly Wait,” Oberst doing a very effective Paul Westerberg impression on a song that clearly is a big influence on his work (check out the above lyric from OBCC song “Chesapeake”). Bright Eyes tracks “Lau” and “Bad Blood” elicited the biggest responses from the crowd while Bridgers was given time to shine solo with set ender “Funeral.”
The show really ended after Bridgers and Oberst returned to the stage for two final songs—a delicate reworking of “Human,” originally by Vegas’ own The Killers, and “Dominos.” For the cover, Oberst had to hold up printed out lyrics for him to and Bridgers to sing, but nonetheless the song works surprisingly well stripped of its dancier elements (the line “close your eyes / clear your heart / cut the cord” sounds in line with BOCC’s output). The meeting was over and the crowd, no longer “covered in sound,” slowly dispersed.
-Emily Matview
Photos by Christopher Mounts | http://www.christophermounts.com
Setlist:
My City
Big Black Heart
Forest Lawn
Sleepwalkin’
Chesapeake
Can’t Hardly Wait (The Replacements cover)
Exception to the Rule
Lua (Bright Eyes cover)
Didn’t Know What I Was in For
Little Trouble
Service Road
Dylan Thomas
Bad Blood (Bright Eyes cover)
Funeral (Phoebe Bridgers song)
Play Video
Encore:
Human (The Killers cover)
Dominos
No Comments