Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers in Saint Paul, Milwaukee, and Chicago 9-7 through 9-9, 2017

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Phoebe and Harrison in Saint Paul

I decided these shows can share one post:

 Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers at the Palace Theatre, Saint Paul, 9-7-17

Phoebe and Harrison in Milwaukee
Saint Paul was a no-brainer. The Palace only recently reopened after having been closed a few decades, and it was my first chance to see the venue. It's an old-fashioned theatre with a standing-room-only pit and a balcony with seating. The vibe is an interesting mix of ornate and run-down that appeals to me. It has a kind of annoying series of ramps and staircases to get to the stage, which the venue implemented so they can check tickets before people get to the pit, but is annoying when everyone is trying to exit at the same time through bottlenecked passageways.
"Lua" trio


 Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers at the Pabst Theatre, Milwaukee, 9-8-17

The Pabst was cool because I had never been to Milwaukee before, and it's the middle of downtown, with a "secret" bar across the street. You have to know the password to get into the secret bar, so we didn't end up going. My friend Yvonne met me, and we had a great time. Afterward we went to this weird hipster hotdog restaurant and I had a pretty terrible Frito chili pie.


 'Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers at the Vic, Chicago, 9-9-17

The Vic in Chicago was one of the places I'd heard about a lot but never been to. The show had been moved from the Riviera, which was one of the only venues in Chicago I had visited before,
Taylor Hollingsworth


so I was kind of pleased to see a new thing in Chicago. Beforehand, I hung around with my friend Becca and we went to a fairly Cubs-themed bar for awhile. It was a Saturday during the football season, and Oklahoma was playing Ohio State, so I followed the game on my phone as we waited outside and for the show to begin -- college football fans of all kinds of teams were streaming by because there were a lot of bars in the area. It hadn't really occurred to me before how little Chicago identifies with the state it's in: there are plenty of Chicago-dwelling people from Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, etc. The Vic turned out to be a smaller, cozier venue that I expected, which cocktail servers walking around taking drink orders, so once we got inside it was really comfortable. My friend Cliff joined us afterward and we went down the street for a drink and some food. I had some really good banana pancakes and a boozy milkshake.
Conor, with Josh Rawson ("Xmas")

Phoebe Bridgers
I've been pretty enamored with the music of Phoebe Bridgers since I saw her play in Pageturners Lounge with Conor and Miwi La Lupa in November 2016. That was the night the Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years, so it was unforgettable for a lot of people, but it was the first time I heard Phoebe Bridgers that made it magical for me. (And okay, hearing Conor and Miwi, two other musicians I love, playing a set in that particular bar would have been magical in any case.)

Since that set in a bar, Phoebe sang as a guest at his show in Omaha the next night and opened for him one of his two nights in LA that December, which I went to. She also went on tour with Ryan Adams, my other favorite, which I would love to have seen.  I worked out a plan to catch a few shows on Conor's swing with Phoebe.
Conor and Phoebe

She opened these shows with her friend Harrison (Harry) Whitford on guitar and backup vocals. As a duo, I kind of love them, but a tiny part of me wished they had erstwhile collaborators Marshall Vore and Christian Lee Hutson with them. Phoebe and Harrison sounded fabulous, and played a thirty-ish minute set of songs from Phoebe's new album Stranger in the Alps which had not yet dropped at the time of the shows. It came out September 22, and it seemed like they were getting excited and impatient for that to happen. Some of the songs they played on this swing I had not heard before in live performances, and so it was really fun to get to hear new material in person. They were really beautiful performed as a duo, and the mixing was clear enough to hear the vocals really well, which I appreciated.

They covered Bright Eyes' "Bad Blood" on each night of the tour. The song is an unappreciated deep cut that came out on Noise Floor, a collection of rarities more than an album from 2006. I had heard her cover it in LA last December, and it nearly kills me every time I hear it. On one of the three nights they also played a song that Harry wrote for his upcoming release -- it had a kind of alt-country vibe and a title that included the word "heart". I really liked it but can't find it on the internet now, so hopefully it gets a release.
Conor and Taylor

I got to talk to Phoebe after each show, and I met Harrison on the sidewalk outside the Vic. They were both incredibly nice people. I got to talk Ryan Adams with Phoebe. I can't tell how much that relationship has soured since Killer was recorded at Pax-AM. We were both disappointed by his September internet tantrums, but we also talked about Prisoner and some unreleased material from those recorded sessions, as well as "Chaos and Clothes" by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, so it seems like the vibe wasn't all bad.
Conor and Taylor

Conor Oberst
The Felice Brothers were the backing band, minus Ian, who was home with his spouse and new baby. In his place on lead guitar was Taylor Hollingsworth, which was kind of a dream reunion. Taylor was my favorite part of the Mystic Valley Band, and watching him sing and play was a highlight on this swing. Guitar virtuosity is never high on my priorities list, but Taylor manages to play with a huge amount of skill that never steals the show and only adds to the songs.

Conor was really on in these shows. The quality night-to-night was really high. During Phoebe's set in Milwaukee, Conor was sitting on the side of the stage with his head down, listening and seeming really sad -- I was worried he might be having an off night. When he came out on stage, he said Phil Schaffart had saved his life again, backstage. It was cool to see Phil with the tour, because he hasn't been working as tour manager on the Salutations tour.

In Milwaukee and Chicago, Conor did an on-stage plug for Tulsa and the Woody Guthrie museum, which I really appreciated. It was part of a predictably anti-Trump theme that preceded a version (cover?) of the Felice Brothers song "Jack at the Asylum", which is very political. For the song, Phoebe Bridgers came back out to contribute vocals, and watching them on stage together was great.
Conor and Taylor having a moment

They also sang "Lua" together as a trio, with just Conor on guitar and vocals, Phoebe on vocals, and James Felice. It was a song he said he was sick to death of, until he heard Phoebe sing it, and now he likes it again. Me too, Conor. Thanks for collaborating with Phoebe Bridgers.


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