Quarterlifeparty

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I hadn’t really been thinking about this show for the past couple of weeks leading up to it, so I think it finally hit me when I got to the Ottobar, that this is a pretty small venue to see Oberst perform.  I had seen him before at some larger venues and he could hold up with those bigger audiences, so there was definitely a little excitement to see him on the small stage at Ottobar, about 4 feet from the stage.

The band played songs from the new album, Outer South, and Conor Oberst’s solo album that came out last year. I haven’t been much of a proponent for Outer South, but now hearing the songs live it makes me want to go back and listen to it again. Songs like “Air Mattress” and “Die in A hospital” (from the solo album) were given new life and came off less repetitive and more “rockin” than what you can grasp from the CD.

The Mystic Valley Band was pretty impressive, all of them with genuine energy for the concert, and Conor Oberst seemed to fit right in with the band.   Guitarist Taylor Hollingsworth came out and played an acoustic Spanish style guitar on one of the highlights of the show “Cape Canaveral”, trading a few riffs with Oberst in the beginning.  Macey Taylor offered the very consistent and smooth basslines as he added his more angelic voice to Conor’s snargle. Keyboardist Walcott offered nice atmosphere to “I Got The Reason #2″ and kicked in with that great Wurlitzer on many songs.

Other highlights included “Ten Women”, “Nikorette”,  “Spoiled”  and the exceptional closer “Roosevelt Room”, one of the more jarring songs in Oberst’s catalog. Conor poured water on drummer Jason Boesel’s snares at the break of a song, so when he began beating on the drums water was splashing up everywhere, a nice little display for the encore. It’s good to see a band where you have 4 people singing, ( loose analogy alert) it felt like The Band to Oberst’s Dylan.

It was a good night at the Ottobar, and they probably had one of the biggest touring Buses parked on the side I have ever seen. I only caught a few songs of the opener Deep Sea Diver, but it sounded like a good lead-up to the show and will have to look into them more. Oberst held back on the dramatics for most of the show and seemed to just be having a good time and was full of energy as usual. Going with my earlier analogy, I would like to see the Mystic Valley band continue strong on their own and will look forward to a full album of songs by them. It’s also great to know that Oberst will be touring with M. Ward and Jim James on Monsters of Folk coming soon.

Tags: , conor oberst , ottobar