Some concert announcements

Maybe these are old news by now, I'm not sure. But the Walkmen and Conor Oberst are on their way to Mr. Small's in July. Not together, though. Which is cool.

I don't want to be that "I saw Conor before he got mainstream" guy, but I did, so I will. I thought--and still think--that Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground, despite having a totally pretentious album title, was an awesome record, and maybe Oberst's best to date. That's about the time I got into Bright Eyes, and I got into it hard, and I bought some EPs and the earlier stuff and I saw him/them play a show in California (I won't go as far to say it was in a smoky little backtown club, because it wasn't) and he sort of sucked. He sounded alright, as did his band of the hour, but he was this whiny little emo-folkie who was just pissed off about capitalism and church and suburbs and other stuff I didn't pay to hear about.

Still, I bought the next set of records and dug those, too (particularly I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning). And then came Cassadaga and an eponymous solo record, both of which struck me as increasingly (decreasingly?) "just okay." I haven't given the new record much of a chance yet, even though a few of the songs I've downloaded are pretty decent (which is, I suppose, a step or two above okay). Anyway, the dude writes a good song (though delegated some of the writing duties to bandmates on his latest) and puts on a pretty impassioned performance (or did when I saw him anyhow), so I'll probably check him out and see how adulthood is treating him. That'll be on July 12, a Sunday.

More excited am I about a chance to see the Walkmen play a set longer than seven songs in a setting other than some basketball arena where soundwaves go to mutate and fratkids who can't hold their Miller Lite go to push their way by me in effort to be as close as possible to the Followills when it finally comes time to clap awkwardly and arhythmically along to "Sex on Fire." (Q: Is the Palumbo Center the worst place in Pittsburgh to see a concert? A: Yes.) You and Me was one of my favorite records of last year, and Matt Barrick can bang on a kit like I couldn't believe. Hell, to hear just "The Rat" played in Mr. Small's would be worth the $12 ticket. So I'll buy one, and I'll be there on July 25, which is a Saturday, which is nice.

Download:

The Walkmen - "Canadian Girl"

Bright Eyes - "Bowl of Oranges"