Bright Eyes at the Hollywood Bowl

[Neutral Milk Hotel]

I didn't see a thread for this (maybe I just missed it somehow), so here goes. The night started out lame because I kind of got blown off by a girl I was supposed to be meeting there, but the search for her got me into the artist's area for awhile where I saw Georgia Hubley and Rachel Blumberg, so even that was kind of redeemed. I'd never heard any M. Ward before tonight, but he put on a good show. Yo La Tengo was magnificent, I've loved them for a long time and this was my first time seeing them live; Ira's guitar heroics during that last jam session/song were exhilirating. As for Bright Eyes, I've never been a huge fan of them but the live show was good. I'm still not convinced that their music is ideal for the Philharmonic treatment (or maybe I'm just spoiled from hearing The Tain in that context), but it was an entertaining show regardless.

[arbouler]

ive never really gave m ward a listen before, but he sounded great at the bowl.
i should prolly start listening to his stuff.

i used to like this one album by yo la tengo, i dont even remember what it was, but i didnt really enjoy their set. the whole time i thought 'wow, that is a really long song'.

never seen bright eyes before, and i agree, the philharmonic just didnt really seem suitable. they didnt really assist on that many parts of their songs. and the horn section was louder than oberst' vocal (at least from where i was sitting, way in the back). plus, their set was ridiculously short. they played for about 70 mins + 2 encores. they played at 9.10, ended at 10.40...

p/s-what was that last song he played? the lyrics has like 'sons of adam, daughters of eve...'

[Neutral Milk Hotel]

Yeah, I was disappointed with how short that set was too. Maybe they didn't have many songs to philharmonicize. I mean, outside of Cassadega, most of the stuff I've heard from him is really acoustic, so it wouldn't really work in that format. I think it would have been really cool though if they had done the Philharmonic treatment to some stuff from Digital Ash in a Digital Urn. And where was Four Winds?

[tessalasset]

im thinkin stuff from Lifted would have been great there. i didn't go.

[Neutral Milk Hotel]

Oh, here's the setlist:

1. Don't Know When...
2. Bowl of Oranges
3. Make A Plan To Love Me **
4. Old Soul Song
5. No One Would Riot for Less**
6. Hot Knives **
7. Poison Oak
8. Travellin' Song
9. Arienette**
10. Clairaudients (Kill or be Killed) **
11. Lover I Don't Have to Love
12. I Believe in Symmetry
13. Lime Tree**
-----------------------------------------------------------------
14. Smoke w/o Fire (w/ M. Ward)
15. Roosevelt Room (New Song)

** With Vocal Group

I almost got one for myself but the other guy grabbed more of it.

[bmack86]

My three fav Bright Eyes Songs

Don't know when..., Bowl of Oranges and Lover I Don't Have to Love

[gaypalmsprings]

I saw Rufus Wainwright play Judy Garland last Sunday at the Hollywood Bowl. It was terrific! It was my first time to the Hollywood Bowl - I didn't realize that even the "Super Seats" were so far away from the stage.

[Courtney]

i used to like this one album by yo la tengo, i dont even remember what it was, but i didnt really enjoy their set. the whole time i thought 'wow, that is a really long song'.

Oh sad. I <3 YLT. Also yes, sometimes they have a tendency to stretch out their songs when they're doing live gigs. I mean, they drone on in sort of Sonic Youth-esque improv heavy with feedback and waves of noise. Although I'd be surprised if they chose to pull out that sort of performance for an opening slot.

never seen bright eyes before, and i agree, the philharmonic just didnt really seem suitable. they didnt really assist on that many parts of their songs. and the horn section was louder than oberst' vocal (at least from where i was sitting, way in the back).

I feel like this is a problem in general with the trend of having rock bands/musicians play with a full orchestra. If the songs aren't originally arranged for that sort of accompaniment, they have to be re-worked by a secondary composer, and it seems like this re-working sometimes is successful but often is not. Especially for more delicate, or sparse, non-orchestral music to begin with. I hate to say it, but I felt the same thing about the Decemberists show earlier this year.

[tessalasset]

oh god i completely disagree about the decemberists. i thought it worked perfectly and thensome. that show sounded better than all the other times i've seen them. the opening song even brought me to tears it was so beautiful.

[arbouler]

oh yea, whats with the tickets being so goddamn expensive? my ticket turns out to be in section G and its worth 65 bucks. jeeez.i didnt even sit in that section, sat waaay in sect T with my friend. so glad i didnt have to pay...

[JustSteve]

we got my girlfriend's nephew tickets for his birthday, so my girlfriend and i took him and his gf. ate at a nice restaurant beforehand and then headed over to the show. he kinda lost when it came to having good parents, unfortunately. his loser 'rents promised him certain things for his birthday and he got jack shit, works the same for holidays for him, too. so we didn't mind dropping a few hundred dollars for the night to make it special for him. we could have gotten tickets in the garden section, but yeah, seats were way expensive, especially since we were getting 4 of them and dinner. so we opted for the $40 seats in section M1, but they were front row, so it wasn't too bad. the worst part of the night was having to drive home while listening to them make out the whole time.

[cansei de ser sexme]

i believe that the reason the orchestra did not sound as good as it could have was for the following reasons...
1)Conor was over mcd
2)the music for the orchestra was made by nate walcott instead of someone who could have added to the music rather than made it sound just like the album.
3) they were wearing casual clothing (lol)

also i was at the rufus wainwright sings judy garland also and i think that he should never do that again. not because it was bad to hear, but rather it was terrible for his voice. he was straining the whole time to sing it like her, in her key. but his story rocked lol.

but anyways i ws very pleased with the bright eyes set list and would go again. that last song was kick ass.

[fatbastard]

I saw Rufus Wainwright play Judy Garland last Sunday at the Hollywood Bowl. It was terrific! It was my first time to the Hollywood Bowl - I didn't realize that even the "Super Seats" were so far away from the stage.

What row were your tickets in?

[cansei de ser sexme]

the super seats arent made of wood...

[woogie846]

The set for Bright Eyes was way too short. It seemed like he was in a rush to get somewhere else.

[gaypalmsprings]

What row were your tickets in?

Row 17 - Section H

[arbouler]

oh, who's the guy in the band that has a birthday at midnight yesterday? they were singing the bday song, was it the drummer? todd or something, was his name?

[shakermaker113]

I was overall quite pleased with this show. I loved hearing some songs from Lifted again, and thought those worked very well with the orchestra, though I'm disappointed that False Advertising was missing... I thought that was an obvious choice. the Cassadaga stuff worked beautifully, of course, and I agree that a few of the others were a little forced. I didn't like this interpretation of I Believe In Symmetry, and I love that song. I was very pleased to hear Arienette, that was a nice surprise. and that last song rocked, so much that I thought it must have been a cover. I hope his next album is in that vein. oh and I totally agree that it was too short.

oh and this is the first time I have seen Bright Eyes and not seen them play First Day Of My Life. that was the only song they had played at every show I'd been to before this.

again, overall I was satisfied, although in retrospect it was overpriced. I was expecting my $100 tickets to get me a little closer, but I guess that's what you get at the hollywood bowl.

[xbnmx]

I thought the show was amazing. I agree, it was shorter than it should have been, and I wasn't stoked with all of the song selections as there were a lot of slower numbers that Connor played solo acoustic with the orchestra behind, however, as I said before, amazing. I Believe in Symmetry was my favorite, I wasn't expecting anything off Digital Ash in a Digital urn. I really enjoyed the duet with M. Ward as well as Nate's horn solo during the instrumental. And like everyone else I was thrilled to get to see Roosevelt Coatroom. I hope they come back near SoCal soon, they haven't done a Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, or Baja date yet.

[arbouler]

again, overall I was satisfied, although in retrospect it was overpriced. I was expecting my $100 tickets to get me a little closer, but I guess that's what you get at the hollywood bowl.

eh, it depends on which show you go to. for philharmonic events like bright eyes, it costs a lot more than usual concerts.
i paid 65 to be in the pit for arcade fire, no philharmonic though.

[shakermaker113]

eh, it depends on which show you go to. for philharmonic events like bright eyes, it costs a lot more than usual concerts.
i paid 65 to be in the pit for arcade fire, no philharmonic though.

yeah I don't think I'd bother going to shows there without the orchestra any more. it's not an attractive venue to me, the only reason I was there this time was because the orchestra made it unique.