BRIGHT EYES TOUR DATES Mar 22 The Pageant St Louis, MO
Mar 30 Treefort Music Fest Boise, Idaho Apr 1 Washington's Fort Collins, CO Apr 3 The Sylvee Madison, WI Apr 4 Palace Theatre Saint Paul, MN Apr 5 The Salt Shed Chicago, IL Apr 6 The Intersection Grand Rapids, MI Apr 8 Royal Oak Music Theatre Royal Oak, MI Apr 9 Agora Theater & Ballroom Cleveland, OH Apr 10 HISTORY Toronto, ON, Canada Apr 11 Buffalo RiverWorks Buffalo, NY Apr 12 The Paramount Huntington, NY Apr 13 State Theatre, Portland, Maine Apr 15 Higher Ground South Burlington, VT Apr 17 Brooklyn Paramount Brooklyn, NY Apr 18 Citizens House of Blues Boston, MA Apr 19 The Met Philadelphia, PA Apr 20 The Anthem Washington, DC Apr 22 Roxian Theatre Mckees Rocks, PA Apr 23 MegaCorp Pavilion Newport, KY Apr 24 Old Forester's Paristown Hall Louisville, KY Apr 25 Egyptian Room Indianapolis, IN Apr 26 Val Air Ballroom West Des Moines, IA Apr 27 The Astro La Vista, NE Jun 16 Rock City Nottingham, UK Jun 17 O2 Academy Bristol, UK Jun 18 O2 Academy Leeds, UK Jun 20 The National Stadium Dublin, Ireland Jun 21 Albert Hall Manchester, UK Jun 22 Barrowland Ballroom Glasgow, UK Jun 24 The Wulfrun Hall Wolverhampton, UK Jun 25 O2 Shepherds Bush Empire London, UK Jun 27 Doornroosje Nijmegen, NL Jun 28 Fabrik Hamburg, Germany Jun 29 Huxleys Neue Welt Berlin, Germany Jul 1 Leiligheten Rockefeller Oslo, Norway Jul 2 Fållan Johanneshov, Sweden Jul 3 Roskilde Festival Roskilde, Denmark Jul 5 Rock Werchter Werchter, Belgium Jul 6 Bostheater Amsterdam, NL Jul 7 Carlswerk Victoria Köln, Germany Jul 9 Teatre Apolo Barcelona, Spain Jul 10 Mad Cool Festival Madrid, Spain Jul 11 Gozo Festival Gibraltar Neutral Zone, Spain Jul 12 NOS Alive Oeiras, Portugal Read More
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Call it a musical Yahtzee!
Bright Eyes (led by Conor Oberst) has returned to the road in support of latest full-length, “Five Dice, All Threes” and Kansas City and the Uptown Theater crowd was also lucky enough to have Hurray for the Riff Raff along as support (plus a special guest appearance!) to make for a fun and entertaining night out.
The evening began with a solid 45-minute opening set from New Orleans native Alynda Segarra aka Hurray for the Riff Raff, in support of their recent 2024 release, “The Past is Still Alive” (on Nonesuch Records). It was one of the last remaining dates with the headliner before the band makes a headlining tour run of their own.
As it’s their eight full-length record and set time was limited, Segarra didn’t speak much between songs (not any more than usual anyway) but was verbally thankful to be on the road together, and appreciated the response the band’s been getting, especially to the newer material.
The set began with the recent album’s lead single, “Alibi”, described by Segarra as "a reckoning with time and memory" in an attempt to reach someone that is "destined to be lost"
The rest of the set was also very focused on the new record; playing the majority of it, as lyrical themes seemed to turn bleaker and more overcast.
The brand-new single, “Pyramid Scheme” spoke to the chaotic modern day political climate, and “Ogallala”, set in nearby rural Nebraska, ended things with Segarra and band singing “with a tear in my eye to watch the world burn.”
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As lights went down again, the audience may have first thought it was at a related Desaparecidos show, from the pre-taped female Spanish-speaking intro voice, but all was reassured as Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes took to the stage for their hundred-minute set to the tune of Dick Van Dyke’s “Bye Bye Birdie”-era, “Put on a Happy Face” (before it screeched to a mid-verse halt).
The new album is “Five Dice, All Threes” (released last September via Dead Oceans) and the voice-related issues Oberst had happen last fall, seem well in the rearview mirror, with the Omaha native now sounding his usual and vintage best vocally.
Like the openers, the initial focus was on the newer material, with the band opening with “Bells and Whistles” from the recent record and working in “Bas Jan Ader,” about a Dutch performing artist and photographer who died in 1975 at age 33, by disappearing into the ocean.
Oberst effortlessly then dialed two decades back for early single, “Take It Easy (Love Nothing)” and he dedicated “We Are Nowhere and It's Now” to the openers, whom he also highly praised. 2020’s “Mariana Trench” was particularly impactful live and “Soul Singer in a Session Band” was described as “about someone that tries to pass as ordinary...but can’t, because they’re so beautiful, that no one buys it”.
Katie Crutchfield (aka Waxahatchee) joined Oberst in the studio on a re-recorded version of his 1998 song “Contrast And Compare” three years ago, and the Kansas City audience was lucky enough to be the very first to see the song performed live by both, filled with horns and a swaying tempo.
The guest vocals weren’t completely over though, as HFTRR’s Segarra re-emerged to duet on both “Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed)” and another early Oberst single, “Lua”. Both thrilled live and showed how great Oberst and the band are with a co-vocalist like either of them.
New song “Soldier Boy” would end the main set, but the band would “soldier on” too, with an encore as they came back out to begin with 2000’s “The Calendar Hung Itself…” and then brought back Segarra to transform the stage into a dance party (missing the disco ball though) with their upbeat and energetic cover of the Blondie classic, “Dreaming”.
That song again not only proved how well Oberst works with co-vocals but also Segarra’s musical dexterity to expertly sing a pop song, should there ever be a venture in that direction. Going back two decades once more, the night would end with “Let's Not Sh*t Ourselves (to Love and to Be Loved)” and the longtime fans in the audience singing right along (on all seven verses!) gleefully along with the band.
Bright Eyes is clearly back- sounding healthy and with urgent new music, and this show in particular with some “friends” on stage helping sing, made it that much more special of a night-- “Five Dice, All Threes”? This was no game of chance, this was a musical Yahtzee!!
BRIGHT EYES at Uptown Theater- Kansas City MO (2025-03-21)
BRIGHT EYES at Uptown Theater- Kansas City MO (2025-03-21)
BRIGHT EYES (w/WAXAHATCHEE) at Uptown Theater- Kansas City MO (2025-03-21)
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF at Uptown Theater- Kansas City MO (2025-03-21)
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John C ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥X / twitter.com ♥ bsky.ap |
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