Thursday night (4/25) was the final show of Conor Oberst‘s two city residency, that had him joined by a variety of surprise guests at four shows each at Los Angeles’ Teragram Ballroom in March, and NYC’s Bowery Ballroom in April. Previous guests included Phoebe Bridgers, Lee Ranaldo, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Brian Chase and Nick Zinner, The Strokes Nikolai Fraiture, LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Whang, and The Faint’s Clark Baechle, among others, and he closed the series out on a high note on Thursday, bringing out So So Glos and playing a bunch of Desaparecidos songs, including “Man and Wife, the Latter (Damaged Goods),” “The Left is Right,” “Slacktivist,” “Mañana,” and “Greater Omaha.” Other guests included Erica Mancini, Gymshorts‘ Sarah Greensleeves, John Spencer, MiWi La Lupa, and Desaparecidos’ Denver Dalley
Conor also played some of his solo material with the Mystic Valley Band; covers of The Replacements’ “Little Mascara,” Thin Lizzy’s “Running Back,” and Fred Eaglesmith’s “Trucker Speed;” and some Bright Eyes songs, saving fan favorite and rarely played Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground closer “Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and to Be Loved)” for the final song of the night. See the setlist and attendee-taken videos below.
So So Glos vocalist and bassist Alex Levine was diagnosed with cancer last year, and he’s celebrating his return to the stage by performing a set as Alex Orange Drink (his solo project) at Market Hotel tonight (4/26), with The Pogues‘ Spider Stacy, Jeffrey Lewis, Joanna Sternberg, Sarah Greensleeves, and Michael Ian Cummings.
“Friends and extended family,” Alex writes on Instagram, “please join me this Friday for a celebration of life, love and gratitude: an exorcism of darkness. Of singing & dancing & catharsis. Friday marks my return to the stage In Brooklyn after the most difficult year that I could’ve imagined. I battled with cancer as we all went through it. It feels like we’ve been through a nuclear winter of stress & seemingly never ending anxiety & existential dread in a divided state of late stage everything. During this time we’ve lost @shanemacgowanofficial , @ryantcarson , @colaboyy and so many others.”
He continues:
I only got through it because of the love and generosity I’ve been shown by so many. Music lifted me. All of the artists who are playing were a part of that soundtrack. In July, after my biopsy surgery, I awoke screaming @thepoguesofficial songs from my hospital bed.
After venue expenses & the band is paid, I will be donating my personal cut of the show to Stand Up to Cancer.
This Friday we go back to a special place @sosoglos used to literally call our home. Come to @market.hotel for a birthday party, funeral and Saturday night fever all rolled into one. There are still tickets in the @alexorangedrink bio. Let’s go dancing.
So So Glos opened for Desaparecidos on their 2015 tour, and appear on their second album, Payola.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6NXJ8CN5MG/
SETLIST: CONOR OBERST & FRIENDS @ BOWERY BALLROOM, 4/25/2024
NYC – Gone, Gone
Falling Out of Love at This Volume
Road to Joy
Spoiled
Something Vague
Make War
Man and Wife, the Latter (Damaged Goods)
The Left Is Right
Slacktivist
Trucker Speed (Fred Eaglesmith cover)
Mañana
Greater Omaha
Lua
Encore:
Messenger Bird’s Song
Running Back (Thin Lizzy cover)
Little Mascara (The Replacements cover)
Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (to Love and to Be Loved)