Virtually Home

Conservatism says everything is fine the way it is. It says nothing we can dream could possibly be better than this. It says I cannot empathize with those less fortunate than me. I cannot contemplate the future. I have no interest in the good of the commons. I am reactionary. My imagination was stillborn. Conservatism says we only look backward. We only wish things were how they used to be. Well, how things are can always be better. And how things were is almost never as awesome as you think you remember. Conservatism is cowardice, and I have no patience for it.

Dawes' opening set, with Nate Walcott on their last song. I like to see artists perform where they live. Catching Conor Oberst in Omaha is always special, largely because some combination of his friends, ex-bandmates, and Saddle Creek colleagues will show up to add something unique to the show. But Oberst has a second home and another record label (Team Love) in NYC these days, so when I heard he was performing two days before a professional conference I was attending, I snagged a ticket. Conor, early in the set. Because my flight was delayed, I showed up pretty late to the show – at least by my own standards. I arrived as the doors were opening, so there were approximately a bajillion people in line in front of me. I made the best of it and still ended up on the third row of the GA crowd. Dawes opened, like they have on the rest of the tour. The setlist was what I remembered from their recent two-night stand in Minneapolis. They performed well, but nothing stood...

The second night was, in many ways, better than the first. It lacked the two pre-show band-sightings of the day before. (One in which Conor reluctantly said "Hi, guys" to the group of us that had assembled four hours early, while avoiding eye contact and walking to the side entrance, and the other involving loading the whole band into a black SUV, while an empty champagne bottle rolled out onto the pavement.) Otherwise, I liked it a lot better. Dawes' performance on the second night was a lot better. Nothing was different about their musicianship, but the setlist they chose was high energy, set off their talents, and gave off much less of an Eagles-wannabe impression. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Conor's setlist was also better, in my opinion. He said, early in the show, that they'd try to mix it up, since so many people would attend both shows. They started the same way, with "Time Forgot" and "Zigzagging Toward the Light" (just like the r...

Conor Oberst and Taylor Goldsmith So far, the best thing about having moved to the Twin Cities is how many musical opportunities there are. For instance, Conor Oberst never plays two-night stands in Tulsa, Oklahoma. But on this swing of his Upside Down Mountain tour, he's doing that at First Ave. I've seen Conor Oberst perform over 20 times, with five bands, in two countries, and nine U.S. states. One of the things that keeps me coming back is the other fans -- the serious ones. Showing up early to trade stories and figure out which shows you've attended in common is one of my favorite things about the experience. Last night's show didn't disappoint in this regard, and I'm sure tonight's won't either. Oberst is on tour to support the solo album he released May 19. Rather than bringing the Mystic Valley Band (which seems to be more or less permanently disbanded), he's brought Dawes along to both open on the tour and be his backup band. Dawes...

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea cover art. In the summer of 2004, I was at summer camp in Lawrence, Kansas, when my roommate turned to me and said, "Listen to this song, and tell me what you think it means." It was "Two-Headed Boy" and I thought it was the most beautiful and incomprehensible thing. Fast-forward ten years. On Monday night, I went to see Neutral Milk Hotel, who came out of hiding for a reunion tour. I wasn't sure what to expect. Their frontman, Jeff Mangum, has been on solo tours the last few years, but never anywhere I could get a ticket. They were doing a two-night stand at First Ave in Minneapolis, and tickets sold out in minutes, six months before the show. I bought one at a ridiculous markup on StubHub, and I hoped it would be worth it. Well, it was pretty spectacular. The show started really early (doors at 5:30, show at 7) on a Monday night, so I headed to the venue as soon as my classes were over, worried I wasn't going to be there...

Gregory Alan Isakov during his opening set. Josh Ritter is one of my perennial favorites, so when I heard he was doing a solo, acoustic tour, I jumped on buying tickets. Gregory Alan Isakov opened. I hadn't heard him before, but his singing and especially his guitar-playing are beautiful, and if you're a fan of Josh Ritter (or Turnpike Troubadours/John Fullbright or Alexi Murdoch), you should probably check him out. He said he usually plays with a band, and that the solo tour "terrified" him. He needn't have been scared, though, because his performance was great. Josh Ritter's "solo, acoustic" set turned out to be sort of neither thing. He brought two members of his band to accompany him, and they played primarily guitar and bass, though they played mandolin and various other instruments from time to time. There was no drumset, which is perhaps what they meant by "acoustic," though mostly bands don't tour with electric drumsets,...

1) Go back in time and tell myself not to move to Minnesota. 2) Go back in time and tell European settlers not to move to Minnesota. (Bonus: The Dakota and Ojibwe will be psyched.) 3) Go to summer. Never come back.