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I must say, when I heard that Bright Eyes were coming to my fair city of Norfolk, Virginia, last December, I damn near had an orgasm on the spot. I asked for January 30th, the day of the show, off from work and then spent around the next two months in eager anticipation.

I arrived about half an hour before the doors were supposed to open and waited in the longest line I've ever seen outside the Norva with my girlfriend. I was expecting there to be a lot of idiotic middle school girls going to the show to be cool, but actually most of the people there seemed to be pretty genuine.

After fighting my way to the front and dealing with a large crowd of rowdy drunk North Carolinian girls for quite some time, Tilly And The Wall took the stage. I had only heard about one song by the band and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to these guys. For those that don't know, the band consists of a dude playing acoustic guitar, a dude playing piano, a girl tapdancing, and two female singers that occasionally play other instruments; very high energy, very interesting songwriting, and the tapdancing comes off surprisingly well. This band made me smile because they seemed so happy and excited to be doing what they were doing, and their music was very good. At one point, the drummer for Rilo Kiley (who was also playing drums for Bright Eyes) came out and banged on a trash can with some drumsticks for one of their songs. I would give their short set about a 7/10.

Next was a band I had never even heard of called Coco Rosie, and with good reason. These guys are quite possibly THE WORST band I have ever paid to see. Todd Rundgren might have been worse actually, but he doesn't count because my mom paid for my ticket that time. Describing this band is kind of hard. There were three people in the band: a black dude wearing an Indian feather headdress and two marginally attractive white girls (one of whom had a large French moustache drawn on). The one with the moustache wailed in this incredibly annoying voice that sounded like something in between a cat dying and a lesbian grandmother being forced down a garbage disposal and played random samples from kids toys in the background. The other girl played keyboards or guitar and sang in this opera-ish voice most of the time. The dude in the headdress acted as a human beatbox most of the time and also freestyle rapped for one of the songs, and when he was doing the beatboxing, it was actually kind of cool. Throughout their entire set, a screen in the background played random artsy images of various subjects (no other really good way to describe this). This set was painfully long. At one point between songs, the opera-singing girl said, "You guys like techno music? We gotta keep it alive." Anyway, the beatboxing guy is the only reason this band gets as high as a 1/10.

After a long set-up time in which a large multitude of guitars, mandolins, and other instruments were set up amid the keyboards, mics, and drumsets, Conor Oberst and the motley crew that makes up the rest of Bright Eyes unceremoniously walked onto the stage amid rousing applause. They then proceeded to play the first three tracks off their new album in order. On every single one, Conor's voice sounded great and the entire band was incredibly tight-sounding. The songs I remember them playing include (in no particular order), were "At The Bottom Of Everything," "We Are Nowhere And It's Now," "Old Soul Song (For A New World Order)," "Another Travelling Song," an unreleased song called "Everything Belongs Somewhere," a rare song from a very-limited edition 7" called "When The President Talks To God," "Poison Oak," "Train Under Water," "Landlocked Blues," "Padraic My Prince" (I was very surprised they'd play something as old as this), "A Scale, A Mirror, And These Indifferent Clocks," and "Make War." "When The President Talks To God" was amazing...so much passion in the song, and such incisive lyrics. The encore consisted of one of the songs off of the Lua single called "True Blue," followed by "Method Acting" and "Road To Joy." "True Blue" was an odd choice for a song to play live, simply because it's so odd and really kind of lacking. Conor prefaced the song by saying, "This song was written for my nephew, who is obsessed with the color blue." In "Road To Joy," the band jammed out for about an extra five minutes and Conor ran around and knocked over mic stands and pieces of the drum set and threw guitars amid feedback and general rocking-out. It was very cool and an excellent way to close the show. My only complaint with this entire show is that they (surprise) didn't play more old stuff and they didn't play several of the songs I liked off the new album. But overall, truly an excellent show. Bright Eyes gets a 9/10, and the entire show overall gets a 7/10.



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    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, June 14, 2005 at 3:32 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I think that coco rosie is absolutly amazing and anyone who cannot see that is blind.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 27, 2005 at 7:08 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I would just like to state that ALL music is subjective to taste. Their are music die hards, extremists, loyal, intelligent and apreciative music lovers/fans/critics that could all love one band and all have different opinions of another band. Just because someone doesnt like Bright Eyes doesnt mean they "suck" it just means they arent in your music taste. Coco Rosie is okay to me, but Bright eyes doesnt do it for me. If everyone had the same taste in everything and diversity was non exsistent, their would be abunch of robots walkin around on this planet. Its okay to be different, it's okay for tastes to vary. If one master chef hates onions and another master chef loves onions, does that make either of their tastes bad? no. just different.Come on people. arrogance is quite a common thing in music fans. Jeff Buckley does it for me. Not Bright eyes. (mars volta is amazing to the guy underneath me. Volta is art rock. Indie isnt art because its indie)

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, April 27, 2005 at 6:54 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    all i have to say about it is __________ and __________. This album really doesnt matter. The only revelance in the music world is the mars volta. Deloused=9.9. Frances=10. This was the only album ever made that would recieve a perfect score from my extremely high standards in music. And dont ever mention bob dylan or neil young in the same DAY as this shit. And if just hearing about a show coming to town makes you cream your pants, try sex. No wait. Judging by your excitability it might kill you.
    (satan= wuz here)

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 2:50 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    I think that Coco Rosie was probably the best out of all the bands... definatly the most interesting. Tilly and the Wall was also amazing... I've seen Bright Eyes about 6 or 7 times, and I'd have to say, although their proformance was good, I've seen better.

    There is also nothing wrong with being rowdy and drunk. Im one of the North Carolina girls you were talking about, and at least I was having fun. asshole.

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, February 17, 2005 at 4:30 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    I saw this tour stop in Minneapolis and for the love of god I couldn't disagree with this yahoo more.

    Coco Rosie are without any doubt the most beautiful and interesting performers that have been born into the shitty fields of moderns music in years. And their performance blew my mind, and brought tears to my eyes. If I was that Bright Eyes dude I would have just hung it up and turned in for the night after their performance, because there was NO following it.

    Whoever wrote that review should kick themself in the face.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 12, 2005 at 10:42 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    It's difficult for me to understand how someone could truely appreciate the artistic nature of conner's songs and not support a band like Coco Rosie. I had never heard of them before I saw them with Bright Eyes in NY this past January. From the first song they played i thought they were absolutely incredible. They truely play the type of music that can make you feel something. The contrast between the two singers voices is amazing and works wonderfully. They are much better live than on cd. It's an expierence that anyone should be glad to have had.

    Posted by Benjasaurus on 2005-02-10 00:09:43
    My Score:

    I mean, I don't remember him playing Lua. If he did, ok. I would then only change my statement to, "He didn't play my favorite song off the new album." But there is really no way one way or the other to prove he did or didn't. I just distinctly remember the only solo acoustic song being "When the President Talks to God".

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, February 9, 2005 at 11:03 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    benjasaurus=pwned

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, February 7, 2005 at 8:53 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    "i would just like to reiterate that i think its awesome he played so few old songs. his old songs blow compared to the new records. i wanted to hear a set of only the new album and its b-sides"

    ok i think you may be def because fevers and mirrors was possibly the greatest album EVER. im wide awake sucks. and lifted rapes that cd

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, February 7, 2005 at 8:50 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    sorry but i think im wide awake is possibly the worst bright eyes cd yet.... and i fucking love bright eyes.. digital ash on the other hand is fugin grand

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, February 7, 2005 at 6:58 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    i seriously cannot believe anyone who went to that show could be so uncultured and closeminded towards music as you were sir. i totally enjoyed the show inside and out, Tilly and the Wall rocked the socks off Milwaukee, they were fantastic, Neely from Tilly was one of the most pleasent people i ever met and so humble it was crazy. As for Coco Rosie i was so blown away i mean i guess you have to be pretty open minded but can you honestly say you've ever seen someone stand up and start rapping in French? and a girl who is just fantastic at a harp, guitar AND keyboard and top it off with a gorgeous voice? i also thought the sound toys made it all just come together and they were so creative and different from ANY other band i've ever heard..isn't that what music is all about? self-expression? yes so its hard to be overly critical to someones feelings and ways of doing things. I've loved Bright Eyes ever since i've heard them a while back and they continue to amaze me. Conor is truely gifted in his songwriting and his creativity not only shows through in HIS music but all the other bands that he puts on his record label Saddle Creek. well i just thought i would put my two cents in and if your not a close-minded person and would like to hear some different music than what the friggin radio has to offer i would recommend ANY of these bands.

    -s.g. W.I.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, February 7, 2005 at 10:38 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    i'm gonna be hard pressed to find a better 05 release than 'i'm wide awake' this year. fuck that record is immaculate.

    paul

    PS. i hated bright eyes before this album and thought desparacedos was bland. this is amazing. if you doubted previously give it a try. or maybe i'm finally old enough to accept music like this or something. god knows there was a time when i was like 'if there aint upstrokes and horns i aint listenin' lol. i'm 24, same as conor.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, February 7, 2005 at 9:19 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    i would just like to reiterate that i think its awesome he played so few old songs. his old songs blow compared to the new records. i wanted to hear a set of only the new album and its b-sides

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, February 6, 2005 at 12:37 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    possibly the most dissapointing show ever ... i saw them in my home town miami ... intimacy= not there. it was in a fucking theatre .. they played like 10 songs all new .. they played like one song off fevers and one song off lifted .. $32 ... sooo fucking pissed

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, February 6, 2005 at 5:01 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    yes i was at the norfolk show and i have the setlist to proove he played lua. maybe you didnt stay for the encore.

    and i know he didnt play first day of my life, its one of my favorite songs of the new album.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 5, 2005 at 4:48 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Dude, were you AT the Norfolk show? He didn't play Lua or First Day of My Life. And everyone was very nice to Coco Rosie. And as good as the show was, I can name 10 other shows off the top of my head that I liked better. I guess it's a matter of opinion.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 5, 2005 at 4:25 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    alright then i will educate you.

    "No one yelled out rude comments or booed them. I was surprised by how rousing the applause was, actually. I respect them for getting up there and playing music, that does take a lot of bravery. It especially takes a lot of bravery when your music makes people's ears bleed. "

    THe audience DID boo and the DID yell out rude comments. At one point, the opera-singing girl said "alright we have a few more songs for you" the entire audience sighed a huge sigh of dissapointment and booed. directly afterwards she said "this is our last song"

    "He didn't play "First Day of My Life" or "Lua". I don't really like the digital album that much, that's not what I'm complaining about."

    um, he did play Lua. THe only song that he didn't play was "first day of my life." So he didnt play one song. BIG DEAL.

    "I gave his set a 9/10. I gave the concert a 7/10. Read the review. "

    A 9 is still too low.

    Posted by Benjasaurus on 2005-02-05 00:00:59
    My Score:

    alright then i will educate you.

    first of all, the way this boy describes coco rosie is completely disrespectful. I wasn't a fan of them either, but the fact that you bash them so intensely is uncalled for. THey were very experimental and i have a ton of respect for any band who can get up and play a set like that in front of an audience who is entirely there to see someone else, an audience who kept booing them and yelling out rude comments.

    No one yelled out rude comments or booed them. I was surprised by how rousing the applause was, actually. I respect them for getting up there and playing music, that does take a lot of bravery. It especially takes a lot of bravery when your music makes people's ears bleed.

    second of all, he didn't play lover i dont have to love because that song has a variety of effects that would be hard to recreate live. this tour was to promote IM WIDE AWAKE ITS MORNING, not lifted.

    "Padraic My Prince" doesn't use a lot of effects? What about "A Scale, A Mirror, And These Indifferent Clocks"? I know he's played it on past tours, so recreating it live wasn't the problem. I wish he'd played more old stuff.

    thirdly, conor played almost every song off of IM WIDE AWAKE ITS MORNING, so how can you complain about him not playing the songs you liked? hes not going to play any tracks from digital ash because its a DIGITAL album and this has been stated previously suite a few times.

    He didn't play "First Day of My Life" or "Lua". I don't really like the digital album that much, that's not what I'm complaining about.

    also, how can you give his set a 7 out of 10? how many performers have you seen with the same intensity live as conor has? this is by far the best show ive ever attended.

    I gave his set a 9/10. I gave the concert a 7/10. Read the review.

    fifthly, true blue was a great song to play live. its just as great as any other song and its his setlist, he plays what he feels like.

    True Blue is a lacking song in my opinion. I thought it was funny and interesting and I didn't mind that he played it. All I said in the review was that it was an odd choice.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, February 4, 2005 at 9:26 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    I will say, however, that the art form Coco Rosie was awesome, despite the suckyness.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, February 4, 2005 at 9:15 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Yeah I was at this show and two things pissed me off.
    1. Coco Rosie really made me what to slit my wrist..... they suck, they suck, they suck.
    2. Bright Eyes did not play Haliegh Haliegh, a Lie Haliegh or Sunrise Sunset despite the fact that me and 5 other people were yelling at them to do so.

    *Buttbadger

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, February 4, 2005 at 2:43 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    alright then i will educate you.

    first of all, the way this boy describes coco rosie is completely disrespectful. I wasn't a fan of them either, but the fact that you bash them so intensely is uncalled for. THey were very experimental and i have a ton of respect for any band who can get up and play a set like that in front of an audience who is entirely there to see someone else, an audience who kept booing them and yelling out rude comments.

    second of all, he didn't play lover i dont have to love because that song has a variety of effects that would be hard to recreate live. this tour was to promote IM WIDE AWAKE ITS MORNING, not lifted.

    thirdly, conor played almost every song off of IM WIDE AWAKE ITS MORNING, so how can you complain about him not playing the songs you liked? hes not going to play any tracks from digital ash because its a DIGITAL album and this has been stated previously suite a few times.

    also, how can you give his set a 7 out of 10? how many performers have you seen with the same intensity live as conor has? this is by far the best show ive ever attended.

    fifthly, true blue was a great song to play live. its just as great as any other song and its his setlist, he plays what he feels like.

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, February 3, 2005 at 9:04 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    have you ever considered that "lover i dont have to love" doesnt fit in with this tour at all? this tour is just for i'm wide awake its morning. i bet once he tours for digital ash he'll play it

    Posted by Archangel on 2005-02-03 17:33:49
    My Score:

    "no one on this site knows anything."

    So educate us.

    Posted by Benjasaurus on 2005-02-03 17:31:11
    My Score:

    ::pees on the person below me's face::

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, February 3, 2005 at 2:42 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    no one on this site knows anything.

    your review was horrible.

    the album gets a 10, your review gets a 0

    Posted by hobbitcore on 2005-02-03 03:56:41
    My Score:

    i think when people think of bright eyes they don't think of him as having any big hits at all really...except maybe Haligh but that's just kind of a fan favorite..

    Posted by Archangel on 2005-02-02 17:43:17
    My Score:

    "too bad bowl of oranges is the only song he made a video for."

    1.) I think there's a video for Lover... floating around somewhere. But I don't think he made it.

    2.) It's more or less the "big hit" because of its popularity... most people think of that song first when they think of Bright Eyes (if they're not fans already, that is).

    Posted by hobbitcore on 2005-02-02 16:01:10
    My Score:

    why would they not play "Lover I Don't Have To Love"? It's a fantastic song.

    What are you fucking radiohead? Get over it, you can play the big single.

    too bad bowl of oranges is the only song he made a video for.
    when bright eyes tours, they generally play 80% songs from the newest record and the other 20% are oldies...i'm amazed he played Padraic cuz I thought he never played stuff from LOTH anymore.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, February 2, 2005 at 2:11 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    coco rosie is AWESOME. i love that one of them can sing beautifully and the other can't at all. super creepy and atmospheric, they made me zone out and feel awkward. any band that can force me to feel like that is good in my book.

    i wish conor played less old songs and more new stuff. the BRAND new songs are awesome and i could've used to hear some of the b-sides from wide awake. his new material makes his old material irrelevant

    Posted by Archangel on 2005-02-02 00:44:25
    My Score:

    "I would accept connor oberst if critics and some people stopped giving him credit for being so talented at a young age (he's 25) and stopped calling him the songwriter of our generation."

    Well that's kind of stupid. Regardless of how talented he is considering his age, he doesn't write his own reviews.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, February 2, 2005 at 12:01 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    you suck, cocorosie is friggin awesome.

    also i hate bright eyes but i listen to him anyway. but that doesn't matter. what matters is that cocorosie is awesome and i wish i could see them live, you should be grateful.

    this comment sucks too. but i'll post it anyway. kinda like how i am with bright eyes.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 at 11:56 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    why would they not play "Lover I Don't Have To Love"? It's a fantastic song.

    What are you fucking radiohead? Get over it, you can play the big single.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 at 11:55 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    fuck conor

    Posted by SethCohen on 2005-02-01 22:35:51
    My Score:

    I know it's not art rock but it's going to have more artsy indulgences than most other musical styles.

    Posted by kenjamin on 2005-02-01 22:17:06
    My Score:

    I would accept connor oberst if critics and some people stopped giving him credit for being so talented at a young age (he's 25) and stopped calling him the songwriter of our generation.

    Posted by theundergroundscene on 2005-02-01 21:56:49
    My Score:

    Conor oberst is not bob dylan

    or good

    Posted by bizzlebrizzle on 2005-02-01 21:40:33
    My Score:

    OK, I can understand that Coco Rosie isn't very conventional, and I can see where you kids might not like it.

    But personally I loved it, I admit it took a few songs to get used to, but afterwards I found it to be amazingly creative.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 at 8:56 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    As much as I can get annoyed by Oberst, some of his new songs off of I'm Wide Awake.. are quite good and to call them whiny is claiming the same to the likes of Bob Dylan , Neil Young etc....

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 at 8:51 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    I stopped reading after the first sentence.

    Posted by kenjamin on 2005-02-01 17:19:43
    My Score:

    indie rock doesn't mean art rock.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 at 4:59 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    That description of CocoRosie was right on. I saw Bright Eyes in Omaha and I swear, I thought that band would never ever end. Maybe it was placing something really bad next to something to make it (bright eyes) look really really amazing. Anyway, I felt the same way about the black dude freestylin' too, he was awesome.

    Posted by SethCohen on 2005-02-01 13:22:06
    My Score:

    If you're going to go to an indie rock show you should expect a lot of bands to be artsy and weird. That's why they aren't mainstream. Not everybody sounds as normal as Bright Eyes. I don't like how people claim to love indie rock and write every band off who doesn't sound like Bright Eyes or Interpol.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 at 12:03 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    bright eyes has to be the worst band in existence.

    Posted by andrew13 on 2005-02-01 10:40:43
    My Score:

    the thing that i hated most about Coco Rosie was the one womans screeching voice.. that made me want to shove a fucking screwdriver into my ear... the beatboxing guy was the best part of their set...

    oh, and on team love's site they have the whole tilly and the wall album up for download... check them out.. very good stuff...

    Posted by bizzlebrizzle on 2005-02-01 10:09:04
    My Score:

    Tilly And The Wall was spectacular.

    Coco Rosie was weird at first but once I got used to it I loved it.

    Posted by sickboi on 2005-02-01 09:43:03
    My Score:

    Hmmm, I wondered what that whining I could hear in the distance Sunday night was.....Bright "crybaby" Eyes down interstate 64 in Norfolk.

    Fuck this shit.

    Posted by SethCohen on 2005-02-01 09:36:22
    My Score:

    I agree with the guy below me. CocoRosie is great. Tilly and the Wall is heads and shoulders above most bands though. After months of searching I finally found their Hey Ya cover last night. My score is for Tilly and the Wall

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 at 8:56 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    Cocorosie is much better than Bright Eyes I'd say. If you haven't heard La Maison de Mon Reve, you shouldn't even judge.

    Posted by ThriveToFailure on 2005-02-01 05:01:44
    My Score:

    "and the screen behind them freaked me out... at one point there was, no lie, an image of a man with the star of david on his forehead being fucked up the ass by a unicorn... and it went on for about a minuite... "

    Eyes. Goggles. Nothing.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 at 2:35 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    tilly nad the wall? i paid them once, interesting people. bright eyes though, not a fan, though they can cover a hell of a daniel johnston song

    Posted by andrew13 on 2005-02-01 00:37:13
    My Score:

    I saw this in philly and was going to write a review tomorrow...

    TIlly and the Wall i had never heard of before, and were very entertaining... the tap dancing chick was fairly hot too...

    Coco Rosie i had never heard of either... when i saw them i couldn't wait for the set to be over... however, left hand shoe isn't too bad of a song and the last song when the indian dude rapped and the Tilly tapdancer came back out was by far the best part of the set...
    and the screen behind them freaked me out... at one point there was, no lie, an image of a man with the star of david on his forehead being fucked up the ass by a unicorn... and it went on for about a minuite...

    Bright eyes killed live... they opened with "At the Bottom of Everything", my favorite song off the new cds, then went on to play "We are Nowhere", "Oldsoul song for the New World Order", an old song off of Fever and Mirrors i believe, "Train under Wate"r, then "Method Acting", a new track titled "I must belong somewhere", then the band left and Conor played "When the President Talks to God", then the band came back and played "Bowl of Oranges", "Poison Oak", "Another Traveling Song", then "Landlocked Blues"... they left for about 5 minutes, then they came back out and played an encore, which consisted of "Lua" and "Road to Joy", which is imeasurably great live. Basically the people in charge kicked him off the stage then and Conor joked about them having to set up for the nutcracker...

    The show was great, and even the shitty seats couldn't ruin it...

    also, when the president talks to god is availible for free on the iTunes music store... so check it out... very good song...

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