Conor Oberst with Jonathan Wilson at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, OK 9/18/14

"This is one of the best places in the world to play music," Oberst said pretty early in the show. I have always believed it's one of the best places in the world to hear music, so I jumped at the chance to see this show.

Jonathan Wilson and his band have replaced Dawes as Conor's opening act/backup band combination on this leg of the tour. Nate Walcott has joined the lineup on keyboards and horns, and I think that's really exciting. Walcott and Mike Mogis, the other two long-time members of Bright Eyes, have started working on movie scores, most famously for The Fault in Our Stars (2014). I thought maybe their days of working with Oberst were done, but I'm pretty psyched to be proven wrong.

Jonathan Wilson appears to be an insufferable hipster, and

Jonathan Wilson and his band during their opening act.

I'm not a huge fan of his recorded work. However. Wilson and his band put on a pretty wonderful performance to start the show. It was engaging, and the songs fit together sort of seamlessly. It definitely wasn't the same kind of act as Dawes, either as an opener or a backup band, so I was glad I got to see both incarnations of the Upside Down Mountain tour.

Conor's set was similar, but not identical, to the pre-Wilson shows. One of the members of Wilson's band played the pedal steel guitar, and his own guitar style was significantly different from Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith's.

As far as the setlist goes, there was a little less from Upside Down Mountain, and he had cut "Time Forgot", which had always been the first song of the set, altogether. "The Calendar Hung Itself" was an especially wonderful surprise. The last time I had heard it performed live was also at Cain's, on the Cassadaga tour in 2007. "Moab" and "Sausalito" are my two favorite Conor Oberst tracks pre-Upside Down Mountain, so I was pleased to get them both in the same show. "We Are Nowhere, and It's Now" was about feeling lost all the time, he said. I got to hear the story about the Republican National Convention incident that inspired "Old Soul Song (For the New World Order)", which is always a really wonderful song to hear live.

The end of the main set was "Common Knowledge", performed in place of one of the slow, solo songs from Wide Awake ("Lua" had taken this place on other shows this tour). Honestly, "Common Knowledge" is the only song on the record I like more than "Time Forgot", so my initial disappointment about cutting that song from the top of the setlist was totally replaced by unbridled joy. I had never heard "Common Knowledge" done live, though my understanding is that he performed it live a lot before the record was released. Anyway, it was lovely.

The encore included "First Day of My Life" performed solo and then the rest of the band came out

MiWi La Lupa (left) and Nate Walcott, who looks serious as ever.

for a really excellent cover of John Prine's "Pretty Good". Oberst and company will be playing a show in Los Angeles with John Prine, who Oberst said "changed his life", in early October. I sort of desperately wish I could be there -- maybe there will be a bootleg I can listen to. Anyway, the cover was great. Jonathan Wilson and Miwi La Lupa each took verses, and all three guys sang on the choruses.

The encore ended with "Another Travelin' Song", which may be my favorite song of all time. It plays well live. Lots of energy to end the night. The spring-loaded floor was heaving, like it does only at Cain's. It felt good to be at home, seeing this show with some old friends in my favorite venue.

Setlist:
Hundreds of Ways
Zigzagging Toward the Light
Sausalito
We Are Nowhere, and It's Now
Moab
Lonely at the Top
Enola Gay
Hit the Switch
Artifact #1
Danny Callahan
Bowl of Oranges
Ladder Song
If the Brakeman Turns My Way
Get-Well-Cards
Desert Island Questionnaire
Old Soul Song (For the New World Order)
The Calendar Hung Itself
Common Knowledge
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First Day of My Life
Pretty Good (John Prine cover)
Another Travelin' Song