Conor Oberst and Hartford/Focht at the 40th Street Theatre, Omaha, 11-3-16

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Miwi La Lupa, left, on guitar and vocals
I have a feeling this show is going to remain one of my favorite musical moments. The 40th Street Theatre was recently acquired and remodeled by some folks who own a stringed instrument store in Omaha. Apparently they did all the work themselves, and it looks like it was a little theatre, before. It has room for 200, if people are friendly, and a small raised stage. Conor decided to play a show there, and I think it was the inaugural show for the venue.

Tickets were sold only in person, for cash, at Solid Jackson/Almost Music or Pageturners. Ryan was kind enough to pick me up a pair on his lunch break. They were really good-looking, hand-numbered, screenprinted tickets that glowed in the dark and displayed a secret message. I thought this was a really great touch, especially in the era of identical, mass-printed Ticketmaster ticket stubs or print-at-home sheets.

Hartford/Focht opened. They're a husband-wife team who play and sing together, and I thought their set was beautiful and well-matched to the main act. They're old friends of Conor from school days, and the couple whose wedding inspired the brief reunion of CO and the Mystic Valley Band a few years back.

Conor played a set that he would go on to reprise for the rest of the short-lived Ruminations tour. He played the entirety of the album, in somewhat scrambled order to minimize guitar/piano/harmonica changes. After that ten song set, there was a break, after which Conor and Miwi came back out and did 8 songs from Conor's catalog -- a mix of both Bright Eyes and solo songs.

Sean Foley, best damn harmonica tech in the business, sat hunched on the stage by the piano, pulling harmonicas out of a fishbowl full of water and passing them to Conor when they were needed. It was sort of a strange arrangement to have the tech sitting on the stage, but maybe it felt more comfortable that way.

For most of the set, the only accompaniment was Miwi La Lupa, who played his electric guitar as if it were a bass most of the time -- small accents to back up Conor's instrumentation, and occasional vocals. Mike Mogis eventually took the stage on mandolin, with Phoebe Bridgers on vocals, and that foursome did "We Are Nowhere and It's Now". I nearly died.

"Lenders in the Temple" and "Cape Canaveral" are two of my favorites from Conor's solo catalog, and they're sounding great these days. What maybe stole the show was a cover they said they had never performed live, and indeed, Conor used a printed lyrics sheet as he sat at the piano and sang. It was "Everything is Free" by Gillian Welch. Somehow, Gillian's voice shone through really clearly. In the way of all the best covers, it was obviously a Gillian song...but it was also made somehow more by Conor's interpretation. I hope that ends up a B-side somewhere. If not...at least I have fond memories.

Here's the setlist:

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