Four days have been wiped from our lives, and we’d do it all again in a heartbeat.

Starting last Thursday through Sunday we made some serious musical rounds, along the way sampling ridiculous amounts of the finest music that North America has to offer.

Before heading up to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and breaking out to take in Arcade Fire at UC Berkeley’s Greek Theater, we kicked off the whirlwind with The Felice Brothers and Conor Oberst at the intimate Soho on Thursday (one of only four such shows on this mini-tour).   As we’ve said before, we are huge fans of Mr. Oberst and his great songbook that’s laden with lyrical lagniappes.  We’ve seen Conor in various band iterations at the Santa Barbara Bowl, the Arlington Theater, the Granada Theater, the Henry Fonda and the Echoplex, but never this close or in this small of a venue.  He came out backed by the fab Felice Brothers, and laid it out for all to see.  We were struck this time in particular by the darkness on the edge of his town, yet were buoyed once again by his passionate delivery and wondrous wordplay.  We hope he finds what he’s looking for, on or off of his much-loved road.  His set was bountiful (see the set list below), and while there were periods of mere plateau, there were also plenty of peaks along the way.  Clear highlights of the evening were Lenders in the Temple, Cape Canaveral, We are Nowhere, Method Acting and Lua (one of the great, great songs of the American songbook).

Here is Lua at Soho, accompanied by the multi-talented James Felice, and below that the heart-rending Poison Oak as performed at the Casbah in San Diego:

Oberst Set:

Four Winds
Moab
Laura’s Song
Lenders in the Temple
Spring Cleaning
We Are Nowhere
Well Whiskey
No One Would Riot for Less
Cape Canaveral
Ten Women
I Know You
Easy Lucky Free

Poison Oak

I’ve Been Eating for You

Train Underwater

Method Acting
Lua (Conor and James)

Opening and ably supporting Conor were our renewed faves, the Felice Brothers.  While we might prefer to have heard the Mystic Valley Band in support of Conor, the Felices shone through with their musicianship and ardent delivery both while supporting Conor and while killin’ in their opening set.   Highlights were the charging Run, Chicken, Run, along with Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Wonderful Life and Ponzi. We missed Cooperstown, but won’t complain too much.  We can’t get enough of Ian Felice’s alternately world-weary, Dylan-esque vocals and literate lyrics, and his stage-pounding delivery, nor the phenomenal musicianship of James Felice on accordion and keys, and Greg Farley’s fiddling with his fiddle and sound-effects knobs while geeking hip-hop (first ever white hip-hop fiddler?).

Below is a sample of their live gem, Frankie’s Gun: