Bright Eyes are in anthemic mode. The eight-strong band are led by the mercurial Conor Oberst, who mostly manages to stay just the right side of thrillingly unruly. Things get a bit dicey in his chat between songs, but once the players crash into each number it is hard not to be moved by the sheer emotion.

In 2020 the band released their first album in almost a decade with Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was. A surprisingly vibrant album that provided something of a survey over the different eras of Bright Eyes, the record had a smattering of baroque folk, wistful Americana and crunchy rock. It’s not a surprise, then, that tracks from that album provide a neat guide for this Glasgow gig, nestling up to gems from their vast back catalogue.

^{Pictures: Danny Cohen (above) Shawn Brackbill (top)}

The show opens with a newer song ‘Dance And Swing’, followed by 2002’s ‘Lover I Don’t Have To Love’. Despite being released nearly two decades apart, the tracks sound not only similar but also remarkably current. They each twist and turn before building to an epic crescendo which sees various members of the band pick up brass instruments and push the songs beyond their recorded counterparts.

For the most part, the group skew loud and noisy, even for songs that may not have such full arrangements on record, such as ‘Poison Oak’ or ‘Another Travellin’ Song’ from 2005’s I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning. However, they sensibly do take things down for a solemn performance of ‘Ladder Song’ and the classic ‘First Day Of My Life’. While the fuller arrangements might not be to everybody’s taste, it allowed the band to command a very full Barrowlands. Even after Oberst’s repeated digressions, his group provide a memorable run-through of a powerful catalogue.

Reviewed at Barrowlands, Glasgow.