This frost-bound night opened with a shy guy from Los Angeles, CA. Singer/song writer Nik Frietas. This guy was good. His all-around performance was a tad-bit boring, but his vocals were superb. Nik's also a modern day renaissance man. Unfortunately, the crowd responded most when Coner Oberst (Bright Eyes) joined him onstage for a song and not during his performance alone. The Californian's Bob Dylan-esque tunes went over well though, and him letting us, "the people" choose what he played next, (piano song or guitar song) was actually very entertaining.

The most exciting and down right filthy act took to the stage next. The Felice Brothers from New York gladly welcomed us to their "Midnight Dirt-bag Church" at the open of their performance. These guys were sleazy, noisy, and so much fun. It was obvious they were taking ingredients out of a Modest Mouse mix, but these guys could really carry a tune. They were the Beverly Hillbillies of dirty soul-rock and they were much needed by the crowd after a colorless opening. Again, Mr. Oberst felt it was necessary to join the brothers on stage for a song. He must love the attention. After the praising of panty-hose and camaro's these guys left the stage and myself feeling a little violated, and it felt excellent.

Besides Oberst's excessive presence on stage, the Bright Eyes show was very acceptable. Coner Oberst appeared to be intoxicated, but it didn't effect his onstage gut-spilling. He took a hold of the crowd with his emotional voice the entire night. I found it most pleasant when Oberst calmly shut-down someone who yelled out to play Free-bird. It was just brutally honest and it needed to be said. Although I enjoyed most of his set, my favorite was his song about New York and being alone, "Lua". One of the Felice Brothers joined him for this perfectly executed and very emotional tune. I might add that he was quite the dancer as well, two-stepping in his cowboy boots. Bright Eyes closed the night, and they did it with emotion, and every other member of every previous band. It gave you that feeling of sharing and drunken love. It was chaos and it was a rock-n-roll farewell.

| 11.17.2007 | Review by Matt Phillips |