Conor Oberst, Industrial Rap, Profanity & Messiah College

I was unbelievably ill on Monday so I wasn't able to talk about the Conor Oberst concert I went to at Messiah last Friday. That's too bad, because it was quite a night. It's been a week now, but it's still probably worth a brief recap and a photo gallery. The show actually featured three acts, Conor and his Mystic Valley Band, Ben Kweller and an experimental, Gorillaz-esque industrial rap outfit called Rig 1. Rig 1 obviously went on first, and by the time they left the stage a half an hour later, the night had taken an interesting turn.

CHECK OUT MY PICTURES FROM THE CONCERT ON FLICKR

I’m sure you’re all aware that Messiah College is a Christian institution. How could you not be? It’s called Messiah College. The boys from Rig 1 either didn’t know or didn’t care, because the frontman took the stage to a lusty, “WHAT THE F$%K IS UP MESSSSIIIIAAAAHHHH.” The crowd seemed slightly miffed, but still cheered. That was a prelude to a show that featured plenty of profanity and one song that was so sexually-explicit it would make Larry Flynt blush. The crowd was not amused. A quick scan of the people around me turned up a lot of muttering and some angry glares. I’m not sure how I feel about all this really. I’m not easily offended and I don’t think my taste in music really has all that much to do with my personal faith. At the same time, the people that paid for a ticket clearly didn’t come expecting that, and I’m not sure it was entirely fair. To be honest, the band was really interesting. The frontman’s delivery was razor-sharp, and his rhymes were intelligent and bitingly funny.

Ben Kweller’s set was fun and about what I expected. His music is much twangier than it was when he first appeared on the scene, but it was still very good. He’s so earnest on stage, that you really root for him. In fact, he was so earnest that when Conor and the Mystic Valley Band came on stage after him, it felt like they were really business-like and detached at first. While I respect the music that Conor made with Bright Eyes, they aren’t one of my favorite bands, and I’ve got to say, I like his new music better. I never expected a Conor Oberst show to, well… rock, as much as this one did. Songs like I Don’t Want To Die (In the Hospital) took on an absolutely manic intensity in person. As a side note, the guitarist in the Mystic Valley band is nothing short of incredible.

Oh, and the encore. The perfect cap to a great show. The band came back out and brought Kweller back with them and played the entire “Ghostbusters” theme while Kweller sang and generally danced like a crazy person. Then he left the stage and they absolutely killed the Paul Simon tune Kodachrome. If you don’t have the solo Conor Oberst disk, I recommend it highly, and if you aren’t easily offended, Rig 1 might be worth a look too. Have a great weekend everybody!