July 18 Bright Eyes Show at the 40 Watt Club in Athens by Robin Lasher (Robin.Lasher@turner.com)

1.	We entered the venue at around 10:45 (a), and it was way more crowded than my companions
 (Patrick, Gretchen, Greg, and Jason) expected. I, however, had been thinking that Grandaddy, the headliner,
 would attract a crowd, since Album 88, the resident college music station in Atlanta, has been playing the 
heck out of the new album. (b)
2.	Bright Eyes began to set up on stage. Conor was wearing a light blue t-shirt that read “Summer Plans
For Wellness”. He had on flip flops. Every once and a while, one of his bandmates would say something and he 
would smile. (c) It was noted that once again, Bright Eyes had an almost completely different line-up than last 
time they came through town (d)… the drummer had a studio look about him, Patrick wondered if the keyboard 
player was Conor’s brother, and the flute player was the same. I think her name is Jiha Lee (according to the
Fevers and Mirrors album). She was talking from the stage to some kids standing near us, as well as an older 
asian woman.  So I assumed they were her friends and family. This would explain…
3.	The prominent Jiha presence in the show. Last time I saw Bright Eyes, she sat demurely on the stage 
until her flute skills were needed, maybe 3 songs. This time she sang or played on every song, both flute and bass.  
Patrick was not very impressed by her bass playing, and from a non-musician stand-point, I must concur that it 
didn’t look like she was doing much on the bass. But I do enjoy the strong flute presence on “Fevers and Mirrors”, 
and her voice was pretty when accompanying Conor.
4.	From “Fevers and Mirrors” Bright Eyes played “Something Vague”, “When the Curious Girl realizes”, 
“Sunrise, Sunset”, “The Movement of a Hand” and perhaps some others I can’t recall. I didn’t recognize any 
of the other songs, perhaps they are new, perhaps my Bright Eye discography is not up to par. The last song
they played had lyrics that went something like, “Sorry that I woke you, I know it’s late” and it was very sweet 
in that tortured, yearning way that Conor does so well (evoking both Holden Caulfield and Timothy Hutton in 
Ordinary People, two of my favorite tortured young males) 
5.	Throughout the show, a large crowd was pressed towards the stage. My friend Jason, who had brought 
his video camera to record the show, was hard pressed to find an adequate angle in the mess of people, and 
when I turned around, the venue was packed. And it should be noted that while Grandaddy had a good crowd,
there was more room to breathe by the time they went on. So Bright Eyes fans abound.
6.	My only complaint would be that the song selections prevented much flipping out on Conor’s part…
its fun to watch him get all intense and move in motion with the guitar, but he remained relatively reserved throughout 
most of the show. But I enjoyed it.  

Notes
(a)	Some will enjoy this anecdote…before the show, we drove from Atlanta and headed to The Grit, an Athen’s 
vegetarian restaurant, for dinner. We walk in, and sitting two tables away is Jeff Mangum, brilliant Neutral Milk Hotel 
frontman, Elephant 6 recording collective member, and general man about town in Athens. Gretchen and I begin to 
get very giggly. The host asks us how many people we are, and Gretchen stammers, “4”. HE SEATS US RIGHT 
NEXT TO JEFF! We are beside ourselves with giddy admiration. He is eating alone. We try not to stare. When we 
realize that we actually will have 5 diners, and our table is designed for 4, it is of no matter. Watching Jeff Mangum 
dine on chili and cornbread is infinitely more important than comfortable table space. When Jason, the 5th diner, arrives 
he has to ask Jeff to borrow a chair. Wheee!…how exciting.  Soon after, Jeff pays his bill by credit card (Gretchen notes 
the lack of cash in his wallet) and heads off into the sunset on his bike, and old looking schwinn.  His credit card receipt 
lies on the neighboring table, and we restrain ourselves from grabbing it. We are, after all, adults.
(b)	As expected, Jeff Mangum was at the show (not as exciting as seeing him eat, understandably). But perhaps 
not until the Grandaddy set. So what does he know anyway. 
(c)	I was struck by the straightness of Conor’s teeth…they were perfect in that  
	     suburban orthodontist/mom makes you get braces in seventh grade/idyllic   
	     childhood kind of way. So where does he get all this angst?