Bright Eyes - Down In The Weeds Where the World Once Was (August 21, 2020) Album • Page 49

he must cancel despite them having a pretty large team that depends on the tour for cash

I saw a video from houston on reddit. it was concerning. glad he was able to rebound but I'll take financial impairment and some disappointed fans over the self-destruction of a great artist. if you can't finish your sets, much less last longer than two songs, you've got a problem.

 

I feel like it's, at the very least, weird to walk off after 2 songs and then say absolutely nothing / offer no explanation

 

what explanation do you really need? "hey guys, i got too drunk last night, sorry" how does that resolve the situation any

 

An acknowledgement that it's kind of shitty to let down a room full of people who paid a decent amount of money to hear you sing by walking offstage before the show really even got started. I'm not going to speculate about mental health or addiction but if your job is to perform and you get too drunk to do your job that's something worth apologizing for imo.

 

idk addiction is fucking hell and until you've been there kinda hard to demand anything from someone going through it.

 

We really don't have to get to the bottom of this lol I just hope he's okay, because he seems...not. I think it's natural to wonder and hope for the best, but the speculation itt isn't really helping anyone.

 

In better and less speculative news, the Companion EPs seem to have turned out pretty nicely.

 

All I'm saying is it's a little weird to pull a move like that and then play another show the next day without having even acknowledged it happened. I've thought Conor's behavior on this tour has seemed off and been slightly concerned about his wellbeing, but I don't want to get accused of being an armchair psychologist or whatever so I'm trying to keep that out of it. It would be weird for any artist to walk offstage and then pretend like it never happened imo, not just Conor.

 

conor couldn’t stop bringing up whatever went down in nashville the following date in cleveland

 

All I have to say about this is that if you think Conor is an alcoholic (clearly a lot of people in here have diagnosed him as such) and he needs to get help, then cancelling the tour or not cancelling the tour is gonna have zero effect on whether that happens or not. Alcoholics drink because they're alcoholics not because they're out on tour or due to any other external circumstances, and they don't get help until they're ready to get help--again regardless of external circumstances. So be concerned about an artist you love, sure that's valid, but speculation about what Conor needs to do is as useless as speculation about what's going on with him. My $0.02.

My copy of the Fevers reissue and the companion EP came yesterday, pumped to spin that tonight!

 

While I don't think it's productive to play arm chair quarterback, I also don't think anybody should be made to feel bad about showing concern for someone who has displayed pretty bizarre public behavior for months on end.

I think it's clear that everyone cares about Conor in this thread.

None of us have the answers, because none of us know the issues (if there are any). But it's OK to wonder, or to worry, or to hope he's OK. Especially when we have seen some of our favorite artists in the past have a far more devastating fate - who showed less, or even no, concerning behavior prior to an unfortunate outcome.

 

absolutely. well said.

 

Oh for sure, and my post wasn’t directed at anyone in particular and I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad. Just trying to give a little jolt of reality re what might or might not happen going forward

 

Companion EPs out today - really enjoying the "Letting Off The Happiness" one at the moment. Gorgeous new version of Difference in the Shades with Miwi La Lupa.

 

This was my initial favorite of the bunch when I was spinning these yesterday.

 

here's some thoughts.

First, it would be nice if they incorporate some of these into their live set lists, as the current ones being played are pretty samey and too heavy on the last two records.

I love the Collection of Songs companion. Everything's better. This is to be expected, considering I don't like the original very much. I don't actually consider it a real album. Anyway, it's great. Everything on here is good. I won't go into any more detail. 5/5

Moving on to Letting off the Happiness:
- "A Difference in the Shades" and "June on the West Coast" are both successful reimaginings. The prior's greatness has already been discussed, but I love the organ on the latter. "City has Sex" is okay, but it's lacking much of the original's energy. It's too "well-produced," which I thought would be a bigger overall complaint, but not really. This version of "Contrast and Compare" is just not my thing. I feel like they've purposefully misunderstood what made that song interesting. I don't expect it to be "better than the original" but I just don't understand what they're going for. Similarly, the new "Kathy w/a K" is mid. Maybe you'll like it if you like M.Ward. I thought it sucked. Then there's the Eliot Smith cover which is also whatever. 3.5/5

And with Fevers and Mirrors:
- I've already talked about the new "Haligh." It's okay, just like the original song. I'm not particularly impressed by either, tbh. A song I do really love is the original "A Scale..." The new version is like Conor leaning in to his Bob Dylan at Budokan impression and making the song all goofy. I guess he's having fun but I thought it was corny. The "Arienette" varietal is interesting. It retains the original's creepiness but repackages it in a completely new way. I like it! Next is a Lullaby for the Working Class cover. I'd never heard the original. It's good! It doesn't really feel like something that influenced Fevers , but they know better than I do I guess. A new version of "When the Curious Girl" follows. There's something missing with this reimagining, but don't get me wrong, if they busted this out live I'd froth at the mouth. It ends with a really good new version of "A Spindle" which I actually like more than the original. 4/5

All three are worth listening to, but it looks like Letting Off is my least liked.

 

Have only jumped around between some of the songs I was most excited to hear. June impressed me the most and I really enjoyed the new City Has Sex tbh. Curious Girl isn't bad, but both prior versions of the song are so much better. (In fact, I think Curious Girl Again is possibly the single best Bright Eyes song, but I digress.)

And I probably said it when the singles dropped, but this version of Falling Out of Love at This Volume is just so goddamn great. My high school self wouldn't have been able to handle the anticipation if you told me then he'd record the live version someday.

 

Really impressed with the A Collection companion, really brings life to a lot of songs that I never really cared for. I'll get around to the other two companions soon as well

 

Sorry to plenty of you, I am sure, but I really just don't like Waxahatchee and think that the two songs they are on do not work well on the Happiness companion. The other ones are good updates though, June on the West Coast is WILD and I love it

 

have you ever even listened to waxahatchee????

(sorry for being rude, it is okay that you don’t like her, but I will defend waxahatchee always)

 

I've given a chance to a few singles and haven't heard anything I have liked at all, feel free to suggest something I might, but overall I think I just don't like her voice and what I have heard hasn't been very exciting for me

 

I liked the waxahatchee record but I agree it doesn’t really work on these bright eyes songs. The companion EP’s are cool because I never thought Conor would revisit old work in this way.

 

Oh really? Listen to her album American Weekend!

 

damn. at the gig now. the venue basically put a partition up halfway back, which is kinda odd bc a) ive never seen this venue do that and b) the sister venue that’s half the size anyways is right next door with no shows tonight. wonder if it just massively undersold. bummer.

 

mf this man played something vague, haile selassie, east/lucky/free AND first day of my life