Bright Eyes have celebrated the 21st anniversary of classic albums ‘I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning’ and ‘Digital Ash in a Digital Urn’ by playing them in their entirety at Red Rocks. Check out footage and the setlist below.
The gig at the Colorado amphitheater took place on Tuesday (May 12) as the first of three special anniversary shows the band have lined-up.
All three of the shows see them mark the milestone by playing sixth album ‘I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning’ in full, as well as seventh LP ‘Digital Ash in a Digital Urn’ and some other fan favourites.
Taking to the stage on Tuesday, Conor Oberst and co. kicked things off by playing ‘I’m Wide Awake…’ in full, chronological order, with back-to-back renditions of ‘At the Bottom of Everything’, ‘We Are Nowhere and It’s Now’, ‘Old Soul Song (for the New World Order)’, ‘Lua’, ‘Train Under Water’ and more.
Zoom in on Mike soaking it all in
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From there they took a breather and introduced indie star Ben Kweller to the stage for a set, before returning to play their seventh record in full.
That part of the show saw them play ‘Time Code’, ‘Devil In The Details’, ‘Ship In A Bottle’ and ‘Theme From Pinata’ all for the first time in two decades. It also included the first rendition of ‘Arc of Time (Time Code)’ since 2011, as well as more frequently played songs ‘Down IN A Rabbit Hole’, ‘Hit The Switch’ and more.
For the encore, Bright Eyes played an instrumental version of ‘America The Beautiful’, before closing things off with ‘Lover I Don’t Have to Love’, ‘Make a Plan to Love Me’ and ‘Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and to Be Loved)’ with Ben Kweller.
For the instrumental version of ‘America The Beautiful’, the indie icons projected an anti-ICE message behind them.
America the Beautiful screens 5/12
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“ICE is now Trump’s private paramilitary,” it read. “It is now the most well-funded law enforcement agency in American history. Its officers routinely terrorise our friends and neighbors, disappearing innocent people, clad in masks, driving unmarked cars, murdering its own citizens.”
Another section read: “ICE should be abolished immediately and their officers should be prosecuted for their crimes. The arc of the moral universe bends towards justice. Trans rights are human rights… America is indeed beautiful when we make it the real home of the brave.”
Find more footage and the complete setlist below.
Theme to Piñata – 1st time played live
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Bright Eyes’ setlist was:
‘I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning’
‘At the Bottom of Everything’
‘We Are Nowhere and It’s Now’
‘Old Soul Song (for the New World Order)’
‘Lua’
‘Train Under Water’
‘First Day of My Life’
‘Another Travelin’ Song’
‘Land Locked Blues’ (with Emma Ogier)
‘Poison Oak’
Road to Joy’
‘Digital Ash in a Digital Urn’
‘Time Code’ (First time since 2005)
‘Gold Mine Gutted’
‘Arc of Time (Time Code)’ (First time since 2011)
‘Down in a Rabbit Hole’
‘Take It Easy (Love Nothing)’
‘Hit the Switch’
‘I Believe in Symmetry’
‘Devil in the Details’ (First time since 2005)
‘Ship in a Bottle’ (First time since 2006)
‘Light Pollution’ (First time since 2020)
‘Theme from Pinata’ (First time since 2005)
‘Easy/Lucky/Free’
Encore
‘America the Beautiful’ (Instrumental)
‘Lover I Don’t Have to Love’
‘Make a Plan to Love Me’
‘Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and to Be Loved)’ (with Ben Kweller)
The next anniversary show will be held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on May 23, with support from The Moldy Peaches, and from there Bright Eyes will play at the Forest Hills Stadium in New York on June 6 with support from Built To Spill.
In other news about the indie stars, last year, frontman Conor Oberst showed up to his own lookalike contest in Omaha, gifting a bag of his clothes to the winner.
The year before then, the band dropped the album ‘Five Dice, All Threes’ to critical acclaim, which included collaborations with Cat Power, The National’s Matt Berninger and the So So Glos’ Alex Orange Drink.
Speaking about the record in an interview with NME, the frontman said: “This time, I still hope the songs resonate and have equal amounts of meaning, but as far as the sounds and approach to the music, it’s a bit lighter.”
“The word ‘fun’ is very rarely used to describe my band, but maybe it is a bit more fun,” he continued. “When we last went on tour we were cruising around with a 14-piece band and strings and horns. This record is going to be just guitars; rock and roll stuff.”
