On the right night, Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst can be a truly electric, mesmerizing live performer. On the wrong night, Oberst seems like he'd love to be anywhere except up onstage. Last night in Houston, Oberst evidently had the wrong kind of night.
As Brooklyn Vegan reports, Oberst sang two songs at last night's show at White Oak Music Hall. After singing "Dance And Sing" and "Lover I Don't Have To Love," Oberst left the stage. According to a thread of tweets from Jezebel writer Caitlin Cruz, Oberst's bandmates played some more songs, doing Bright Eyes karaoke. Members of the crowd got up and sang Bright Eyes songs, backed by the band itself. Oberst never returned to the stage, and the venue issued refunds, emailing ticket buyers, "Due to unforeseen circumstances, Bright Eyes was unable to perform."
This is a disaster and I appreciate the attempt at triage but jesus pic.twitter.com/WIZDvXIs7C
— Caitlin Cruz (@caitlinrcruz) May 23, 2022
Email from @WhiteOakMH: “Due to unexpected circumstances, Bright Eyes was unable to perform at White Oak Music Hall and the show has been officially cancelled.” pic.twitter.com/1r8Ssfu1ld
— Caitlin Cruz (@caitlinrcruz) May 23, 2022
— Rumplesmoltz (@rumplesmoltz) May 23, 2022
I want a lover I don’t have to …play? pic.twitter.com/2TmSyXarwI
— WeekendVampire (@abenner5) May 23, 2022
As Brooklyn Vegan notes, there have been other reports about Oberst acting erratically at different Bright Eyes shows on this tour. Oberst has a long history of being weird onstage, and he can seem like he's having a hard time even at the best Bright Eyes shows, but this whole thing still seems not great.
for those of you who thought my Bright Eyes in Nashville commentary was exaggerated, here’s what people are saying about his Cleveland show last night: pic.twitter.com/g1mImUEfm7
— Lorie Liebig (@lorieliebig) April 3, 2022
We've reached out to Bright Eyes' camp for comment, but thus far, the band hasn't made any statements about last night's show.
