Bright Eyes, M. Ward & Jim James

For $18 plus a hefty service charge, Ticketmaster will provide you with a seat in the second balcony for a brilliant performance and about a dozen reasons you hadn’t yet thought to cry about.
The opening set was a relay race run in circles by M. Ward and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. The songs they passed back and forth were a baton that must have weighed a hundred pounds, because each time one of them carried it, they seemed as though they were about to cry. The tears raining from the balcony let them know that the audience wanted to help carry the load. As the two men walked off stage the audience knew they had just witnessed a fabulous opening act. What they didn’t know was it was more than that — it was a preamble to what was yet to come.
With nothing to set up, Conor Oberst came onto the stage almost immediately, receiving a roaring welcome from the crowd. He graciously offered a few familiar favorites before going into new material. Mike Mogis graced his sliding steel throne for most of the set, but eventually left Conor alone for a small set of solo songs. Unlike past tours where he seemed timid and reluctant to engage anyone facing the stage, Oberst was more comfortable and had a playful dialogue with his audience. Just as everyone got used to a cute and innocent Conor Oberst standing alone on stage, Mike Mogis returned, followed by M. Ward and Jim James for a Monsters of Folk jam session. The four men rotated instruments and shared their poetry with the only people in the world that mattered at that moment. Whether it was old or new, whether it was Bright Eyes, M. Ward or My Morning Jacket, the band on stage was playing songs never heard before. Reminiscent of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, the set was a perfect mix of folk and rock music, and the three voices could not have mixed more beautifully. With four humble waves they exited stage right, and even though everyone knew they would return for an encore, the spectators cheered as though they might not. It may have been simply because they saved the most emotional songs for last but the encore felt like an entirely different show. They ended with “The Bear” from My Morning Jacket, which was not only the perfect end to a perfect set, but the final lullaby that will echo in the bodies of that audience until they are once again woken to their discontent.

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