Bright Eyes @ Bowery Ballroom [3/2/07]

I'm not sure, but last night might have been the first time I've seen Bright Eyes since 2004. My memory isn't too good with these types of things, but I'm fairly sure that I missed both the Digital Ash and I'm Wide Awake tours in 2005 when I was living in Tokyo. I might have caught one of the Loews Theatre shows since then, but I'm really not sure.

Why does this matter? Because, regardless of how long it's been since I've seen them, it feels like Conor has matured by a factor of ten years. It's been obvious for a decade now that Conor was an amazingly talented musician, but he managed to get himself pigeonholed in many circles as merely an "emo" artist. And while his last few albums have marked a clear move away from that genre, it was hard to tell just how serious Conor was about his new sounds. Digital Ash was, of course, a (good but not great) attempt at Postal Service-style alt-electro. I'm Wide Awake was his alt-country album. And his single, "When The President Talks To God", hinted at a move towards a more political sound (as did his participation in the 2004 MoveOn tour). Take it all together, and it was hard to tell exactly where Conor was going. While there was no reason to believe that his next steps wouldn't be good, I think it's fair to say there was a legitimate fear of a Ryan Adams-type of career schizophrenia.

After last night's show at the Bowery Ballroom, I feel safe in saying that Conor has found his path. The band that I saw last night completely and utterly blew me away. Since the last time I saw them, they've gone from merely being an important young band to a capital-I Important band. At various times throughout the show I felt as if I were watching Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Revue -- that's how good this band is right now. (And, to be fair, the new material is very Dylan-esque.) I see a lot of shows, but very rarely do I see a band this tight and professional yet unbelievably powerful (see: Wilco). If you consider yourself a true music fan, be sure to catch them ASAP.

Check the pics. Yep, that's M Ward in a couple. He came out for a couple songs during the main set and the entirety of the encore.