Bright Eyes @ Astoria

Never mind that the entire band look like music nerds, that Conor Oberst was working a slightly dated fey indie boy look, or that they pretty much stuck to a set list from the 'Wide Awake' album - it was amazing. Oberst didn't so much sing the songs, as channel them. For 'Lua' he got rid of the band and performed solo with just his guitar, and the audience almost stopped breathing.

Ok - he wasn't much with the chit chat, but my God he was feeling it, and made more image conscious bands like the Killers/Bravery look so very fake. All of Rilo Kiley (who were an excellent support btw) returned to the stage for the final song 'Road to Joy'. It was the last night of the tour and they'd all been drinking a-lot throughout the 1 1/2 hour set, so went a bit crazed right at the end, with band members all over the place banging away at any instrument they could lay their hands on - (how good must the aftershow party have been!). Truly breathtaking. You can see why there are so many Bright Eyes obsessives out there, except its not just their little secret anymore!

Slebs spotted in the audience were Morrissey and Kelly Osbourne - deep in conversation for about half an hour - what on earth did they have to talk about?? Morrissey left about two songs into the Bright Eyes set, so he probably only came along to see Rilo Kiley.