Spoon and The New Pornographers, Live, Together, in Portland (As well as Conor Oberst AND Hop Along, in Boston)
Last Friday I went down to Boston to see Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes, but recently he's taken to producing work under his own name, with a variety of backing bands). Years ago, Concor Oberst was deemed the unbelievably honorable title of "this generation's Bob Dylan" with his songwriting abilities. His live shows have always been energetic and filled with amazing examples of his varied abilities, relying on not just the strength of his strong voice. The guy is an incredible musician and, as evidenced by the groups of bands I've seen him play with, much like Bob Dylan, he can conduct a band like no other, bringing out their strengths as well. The first time I saw him was under his moniker of Bright Eyes and it was more of a "best of" setlist after putting out an album called "The People's Key" which was a disappointing, experimental album (which happened to be his last album as Bright Eyes to this date). Then, I saw him a couple of years a