And love's always been the message..

I was perfectly centered where I slept because that's what an air mattress does. Starts as a bed on a cloud and then you wake up partially on the ground. I felt like I didn't sleep at all, but you know how anticipation works. I staggered to the shower and turned the hot water on while I brushed my teeth. No time to make coffee so I turned the water up until it seemed like my skin was a step away from blistering. There's plenty of ways to awake your senses.


"Let's make a move," I told Jake and Joanne who were sleeping on the floor and couch, "Conor can't wait all day."

We stopped and got cheap breakfast and filled ourselves up. One pancake, side of bacon, side of home fries. Chew, swallow, sip of coffee, repeat. Since I couldn't make coffee when I got up our server gave Joanne and I a cup to go. Then it was on to Cleveland.

On the way there Jake theorized that our waitress roofied the coffees, because she was "undoubtedly a secret service agent." That is why he refused her offer for a free coffee. I continued to drink the coffee. The drive down was flooded with Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos, Monsters of Folk, and The Mystic Valley Band. My outlandish movements and singing caused Joanne to feel the need to switch to something different as we got further into the drive.

Expecting to drink more than we should an arrangement had been made to stay at a Hotel downtown that was only blocks away from the Concert venue. We ate at the House of Blues to get benefits to get in early. Which worked out because we were close enough to catch sweat droplets from Conor's hair. (we didn't really do that, just saying.)

After eating lunch the three of us went back to the hotel room to split a bottle of rum and an 18 of bud. We started drinking at 4:01 and Jake threw up at 4:56, I guess that summarizes the success of pre-gaming. We walked down to the venue and met some cool people. Played bullshit and drank $1 budweisers with the people near us. At one point Joanne and I walked out the back doors and happened to see Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott walking down the alley we yelled "Hey!" and walked over to them. Nate waved and we walked around the corner where we talked to Mike while Nate was in Lola. Mike was rad. He was a nice dude and talked to us about everything. He seemed excited to be playing again. At the end of our conversation I said, "Alright, well we'll let you get back to doing what you do." and Joanne and I turned to walk away and he said, "Well let's walk back together cause I'm going that way and I hate that awkward good-bye when you think you're going separate ways and then you creep back behind them and I'd watch you in front of me." I laughed because I knew exactly what he was talking about. We walked back and stood there for a second, he shook my hand and hugged Joanne and looked at us both and said, "See you later."

The concert was, for lack of a more creative and in your face word, incredible.

The opening band was The Mountain Goats and I was not too familiar with them. I was pleasantly surprised and they put on a fun show. During their last song the lead singer jumped down towards the crowd. The lead singer's eyes met my eyes and said, "I terrorize people with iPhones." He proceeded to grab my phone and record himself singing.. a great start to the concert.

After an agonizing 20 minutes of waiting for Bright Eyes to be set up, they walked out. I was initially disappointed that they didn't open up with Firewall, but the set list was perfect. They played so many great songs that I couldn't have been disappointed. I got chills when I heard Gold Mine Gutted. I got chills during many different points. Their extended, more intense version of Road to Joy was flawless. The whole concert was great.

After Conor Oberst said something along the lines of, "This is what happens when people depend on computers," and continued making a point, "we aren't computers and we're all still working."

The overheating of the equipment led to two of my favorite moments of the show. Conor and Nate on stage performing Lua and June on the West Coast. Conor stumbled over some of the words during June on the West Coast but it just added to how genuine the song was. He seemed completely invested into us, the crowd. The show crept on and every moment got better. During their last song of the encore, the concert was thrown into another level.

"One for you," Conor sang as he touched his own chest,
"and one for me," he sang as he pointed out to all of us.


"You and me, you and me, that is an awful lie, it's I and I."
 Hands rose like swords being raised by warriors waiting to attack, which is what everyone did as he took a leap of faith into all of us. Me, along with everyone grabbed his hand and cheered. Could there be a better way to end a song with a message of togetherness? He landed right by me. Right by everyone and he continued singing and smiling and just enjoying the moment.

Earlier in the day two girls chased him through traffic towards the Arcade. While I did walk over and peak in, I felt bad for the two girls who had put themselves in apparent danger, especially someone like Conor who stays out of mainstream just to hopefully avoid being completely taken over by the media. I thought about this as Conor was on top of us, touching us, connecting to us and I felt a different side of Conor, because all I knew was his music, but the connection that show brought made me feel about him, how I think he wants us to feel about him. I'll leave you to decide how that is.