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Tour Dates
09/24/10 Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern &
09/27/10 Toronto, ON @ Drake Underg& 09/28/10 Ottawa, ON @ Mavericks & 09/29/10 Montreal, QC @ Casa Popolo & 10/19/10 San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw$ 10/20/10 Los Angeles, CA @ Music Box* 10/21/10 Solana, CA @ Belly Up Tavern * 10/22/10 Tempe, AZ @ Clubhouse * 10/24/10 San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit * 10/26/10 Austin, TX @ Emos * 10/27/10 Houston, TX @ Warehouse* 10/28/10 Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater * 10/29/10 Little Rock, AR @ Revolution* 10/30/10 Nashville, TN @ Exit In * 11/01/10 Phila, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie $ 11/02/10 Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory $ 11/03/10 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge $ 11/04/10 Boston, MA @ Great Scott $ & = solo * = Full band w/ Givers, Ra Ra Riot $ = Full band headline Discography
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Before Conor J. O'Brien took the stage at the 400 Bar in rainy Minneapolis, I was already sold on the fact that his band, The Villagers is doing quite well in the UK. After all, it's not everyday you get nominated for the Mercury Prize award.
The two support acts were Brianna Tagg and Modern Monsters. Both did acoustically, and both had corresponding acoustic partners. The latter did two covers: a Soul Coughing and Jimi Hendrix cover. As for Tagg, she sometime sounds like angry folk. Unfortunately, she spends a lot of time tuning her guitar on stage, even her guitarist pointed out her "g-string" which got a bit of a laugh.
By the time mister O'Brien took the stage, I was taken back by how small he was. I wouldn't normally make a deal out of it, but he even pointed it out when he admitted on stage that he was afraid his borrowed guitar would make him look like a hobbit. Apparently, Delta Airlines lost his guitar on his flight over to Minneapolis.
I should also explain that basically Conor O'Brien is Villagers. He wrote and played almost all of the instruments on his debut album, Becoming a Jackal, so to me, Villages is O'Brien. Just like another Conor (Oberst), aka Bright Eyes.
Anyroad, since it's just O'Brien and his acoustic guitar, all the songs lyric-heavy with lots of humming vocal tricks. The songs were also quite charming, they were all little stories. Some of them are heartfelt, some of them are serious, some of them are funny.
In particular my favorite was, "Cecilia and Her Selfhood", which, from my understanding is about a vandalism of one of two twin statues. It got the protagonist mad and he got his mates to head out to find the hooligans who did this awful thing. But finally the truth and punchline was revealed:
You can listen to this song exclusively on NPR.org, it's a bit long so it'll probably never be played on terrestrial radio.
As you can see from the setlist, there were supposed to be a two-song encore, but it was obvious to everyone that it wasn't going to happen when the house music set in.
Villagers' debut album is called Becoming a Jackal and out now on Domino Records.
The two support acts were Brianna Tagg and Modern Monsters. Both did acoustically, and both had corresponding acoustic partners. The latter did two covers: a Soul Coughing and Jimi Hendrix cover. As for Tagg, she sometime sounds like angry folk. Unfortunately, she spends a lot of time tuning her guitar on stage, even her guitarist pointed out her "g-string" which got a bit of a laugh.
 ♥ Villagers at 400 Bar, Minneapolis (9/22/10)
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I should also explain that basically Conor O'Brien is Villagers. He wrote and played almost all of the instruments on his debut album, Becoming a Jackal, so to me, Villages is O'Brien. Just like another Conor (Oberst), aka Bright Eyes.
Anyroad, since it's just O'Brien and his acoustic guitar, all the songs lyric-heavy with lots of humming vocal tricks. The songs were also quite charming, they were all little stories. Some of them are heartfelt, some of them are serious, some of them are funny.
In particular my favorite was, "Cecilia and Her Selfhood", which, from my understanding is about a vandalism of one of two twin statues. It got the protagonist mad and he got his mates to head out to find the hooligans who did this awful thing. But finally the truth and punchline was revealed:
Where Cecilia used to stand
but her sister looks different
Please, tell me boys, if you can?
Is that a smile on her face?
Is that a hammer in her hand?
You can listen to this song exclusively on NPR.org, it's a bit long so it'll probably never be played on terrestrial radio.
As you can see from the setlist, there were supposed to be a two-song encore, but it was obvious to everyone that it wasn't going to happen when the house music set in.
Villagers' debut album is called Becoming a Jackal and out now on Domino Records.
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