Better Oblivion Community Center at First Avenue, Minneapolis (22 March 2019)

Before it was First Avenue, it was a danceteria called Uncle Sam’s, and before that, a Greyhound bus station, but for one night only, the venue was transformed into a community center for a long sold-out “meeting”–

The occasion was the first area performance from Better Oblivion Community Center, a new project teaming singer-songwriters Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers, and who defied modern odds by forming the group and recording and releasing their album, completely by surprise.

After first announcing at the Fine Line Music Cafe, the show sold out immediately (a similar story in other major cities) and then was upgraded to the bigger Mainroom at First Avenue… which completely sold out immediately as well. The “meeting” was a hot ticket.

The first act of three to take the stage was singer/songwriter Christian Lee Hutson. Hutson is a Los Angeles-based musician, just releasing a new single, ‘Northsiders’ (which Bridgers produced) from his upcoming third full-length, which will be his first in five years. Hutson, who has played with Bridgers and Jenny Lewis, did double-duty, playing also in BOCC and charmed the crowd with his well-thought out acoustic songs and deadpan humor.

In addition to the new single, Hutson (who pricked up local ears by appearing along with Bridgers at last year’s Eaux Claires Festival) lightly introduced another song by explaining it was about some friends of his that had formed a band, and bought all the latest gear, but would never leave their mother’s garage, to actually go and play a live show somewhere.

Chicago indie-rock trio Lala Lala was next, in support of last September’s full-length The Lamb (on Hardly Art Records) and a just-released new single, ‘Siren 042’, a collaboration with WHY? The band, led by Lillie West, had just played the next-door 7^th Street Entry at the end of January, and we’d seen them last with Girlpool in late 2017.

The band’s downtempo sound amid often dark lyrics is still evolving and hearing the new single early in the set, helped prove that. West reminisced after playing it, about coming to Minneapolis just after forming the band, and playing a memorable house party, marked by someone casually walking around in a Mozart costume.

Their namesake ‘Lala Song’ was played mid-set with its repeated lyric, “I’m not even listening, you’re not even nothing” effectively shutting down a lot of random crowd chatter and the threesome even managed to work in a Perfume Genius cover towards the end of their forty minutes.

Entering in front of a backdrop painted to look like a patio area and smoking deck with the ominous phrase “it will end in tears” at the top, Better Oblivion Community Center entered to begin their eighty-minute headlining set. A calming taped voice intro’d the concert, welcoming everyone to a “celebration of sound and light- We are one”, the voice reassured us. “Confusion is overrated, truth can be fun” the voice continued before the band turned their volume up, re-shuffling their setlist from recent shows, to open with ‘My City’ (which would have been more suitable if it opened their previous show, in Oberst’s Omaha).

It was immediately apparent, that the meshing of these two alternative voices, he of Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos, and The Faint among others, over the last two decades and she the Los Angeles-based buzzing solo artist, who also made a recent splash with trio boygenius, was a harmonic match in indie-heaven. The music moved from traditional alt and indie-rock to touches of country, folk, fuzz, and even electro, resulting in a sound that was often different from anything each other had previously released individually.

The band is out playing these “meetings” in support of their eponymous debut album (on Dead Oceans Records) and after a building ‘Forest Lawn’ (“You used to say you wanted to end up in Forest Lawn, the two of us side by side asleep“) things really picked up with the album’ first single, ‘Dylan Thomas’.

From there, not only was almost all of the new record played, they also dipped into each other’s catalogs, beginning with 2002’s ‘Bad Blood’ which Bridgers ended up mostly singing. Things became a bit laid back for the electro ‘Exception to the Rule’ as lights dimmed further and Oberst leaned back on a low beach chair as red and white beach balls were tossed around the room.

A brisk and authentic mid-’80s Replacements cover version (hinted at in the previous song played ‘Chesapeake’ with its lyric, “I can’t hardly wait for someone to replace”) seemed perfect played from the same stage the originals did it so many times, followed by a tender ‘Lua’, a song Oberst and Bridgers would often duet together during his Ruminations Tour, when she opened for him. Oberst took lead for the Bridgers solo song, ‘Funeral’ and the five-piece would complete the main set with ‘Didn’t Know What I Was in For’, the first song they wrote together and the new album’s opener.

Things were switched up again on the three-song encore, beginning with Oberst taking the lead on Bridgers’ own ‘Scott Street’ and both traded verses on a 2005 Bright Eyes song, with Bridgers singing at her loudest, by song’s end. ‘Dominos’, the new album’s closer, would also finish the evening, reassuring all in that community center way, that “if you’re not feeling ready, there’s always tomorrow.”

We may only be a few months into the year, but Better Oblivion Community Center seems like rock’s current hottest ticket, and with good reason. Though most shows have been upgraded (still subsequently selling out) this is one “meeting” worth chasing a ticket for, and attending at your local “community center”.

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