Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) has received a mixture of anger and concern over his concert at Babeville on September 14th. The singer/songwriter was clearly under the influence of something. For Oberst, this is hardly anything new. (A slew of reviews of recent concerts mention him being in a similar state.). But this night, the level of disconnect between Oberst and reality was the worst it’s been. He forgot song lyrics, slurred his words, spent extended amounts of time tuning, and then abruptly left the stage without finishing his set list.
Concertgoers have taken to Twitter and Reddit to talk about what happened. Some are angry, others worried, and some wonder if they’ve seen Conor Oberst for the last time.
From af213
I feel like there aren’t many reviews in this sub, but tonight’s show was b-a-d. I’ve seen Conor 15 times in the past 13 years. I’ve seen great shows and mediocre shows. Tonight he forgot entire verses of songs, relying on an audience member for the lyrics, stopped another song in the middle and re-tuned, stumbled off the side of the stage 2 songs before the encore (which would have been 3 songs) and then the house lights came up. The band looked really pissed as the show went on.
I consider myself a superfan but this was majorly disappointing and sad. Has anyone else been seeing him perform this poorly lately?
I consider myself a superfan but this was majorly disappointing and sad. Has anyone else been seeing him perform this poorly lately?
From Havaroth:
Last night’s show was painful to see, I felt bad for him and the rest of the band. You could tell the band was trying to pull him across the finish line for that set. I hope everything is ok. I don’t know what was wrong but the pain that was there felt terrible to see. If it was any other artist playing I think that crowd would have turned ugly.
From theFernedCardinal:
I noticed the lead guitarist was watching his tuning like a hawk when he stopped the song and tuned. The last three songs, the guy on keys/accordion looks embarrassed/worried because he just kept looking at Conor. He started out great but you could see him getting drunker as the show went on. I could not relax because I was just purely worried about him. And then after the show I thought, when do we stop being fans and start being concerned for the individual in a situation like that. I just wanted to hug him and let him vent for the rest of the set.
Things didn’t look any better on Twitter.
No one knows for sure yet what happened. It could have been a bad night. It could have been booze, it could have been drugs, or it could be indicative of something else. Oberst has begun cancelling his upcoming concerts. Hopefully, he can get whatever help he needs and get back on the road when he’s ready.
Ryan Gurnett has a B.S. in Music Industry from The College of St Rose. He has worked as a studio engineer, live sound engineer, producer and sound editor and has been a musician for 25 years. He is currently the bassist for The Lady, or the Tiger?. Email him at SirWilliamIdol@gmail.com or find him on Twitter @SirWilliamIdol.
