Conor Oberst at the ABC in Glasgow 2017

This was the third time that I had seen Conor Oberst live.  I never managed to see Bright Eyes but I've seen him play solo shows and with Desperadicos.  I was slightly late to the Bright Eyes game, only really getting into their stuff in 2004 when I was living in Coventry but Oberst has soundtracked much of my life over the past 13 years.  I rate him fairly highly.

This is the third gig that I attended with my girlfriend/significant other/better half this month and it was possibly a harder sell as Oberst is not a big name.  I managed to get her to the show, overcoming her doubts, and by the second song she turned round and said 'this is amazing'.  She was right.

Oberst is a talented guy.  He writes great songs and he plays several instruments.  He sings like a dream and he does an excellent Bob Dylan impersonation.  He seems to have fun on stage.  He delivered an amazing apology for Donald Trump (combined with some Trump family history).  Beyond Conor himself the rest of the band was great too.

The set included 8 Bright Eyes songs including a duet on Lua with Adrianne Lenker, singer from support band Big Thief.  Another 8 of the songs were from the Ruminations/Salutations set that has come out over the past year.  The more recent stuff is amongst his strongest material in recent years.

Basically, this was a great show.  I want to hear more new music and see him play again at some point in the near future.  Oberst should be much more successful and famous.