Bright Eyes’ show at the White Oak Music Hall in Houston on Sunday came to an abrupt conclusion after frontman Conor Oberst left the stage after playing two songs. The remaining band members then enlisted concertgoers to come on-stage to perform karaoke.
According to an initial report by BrooklynVegan, the incident unfolded during the second song of the set, “Lover I Don’t Have to Love,” when the singer began to experience lyrical lapses and subsequently exited. Jezebel writer Caitlin Cruz was in attendance and live-tweeted the proceedings as the band scrambled to select volunteers and “tall boy-drinking men” from the audience to sing a few more songs before ending the show completely. During a break as the band prepared to launch into “Bowl of Oranges,” one of the impromptu singers could be heard hyping up the crowd by saying “We still love Conor, okay?!” See a collection of Cruz’s tweets and fan-captured footage below.
The venue issued a statement before the end of the night that read: “Due to unexpected circumstances, Bright Eyes was unable to perform at White Oak Music Hall and the show has been officially cancelled.” Attendees will be issue refunds. The band has not yet commented.
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Sunday’s show was only the fourth stop of Bright Eyes’ expanded 2022 tour, but already Oberst’s behavior has become something of a trend. The band is next scheduled to perform on Monday at the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans as part of an extensive North American and European tour running though September. They’re also slated to appear at Las Vegas’ When We Were Young Festival in October. Take your chances on seeing a full set this year via Ticketmaster.
Last month, Bright Eyes stopped by Colbert to play “Dance and Sing” off their 2020 reunion record Down in the Weeds Where the World Once Was. Their year has so far been dominated by the massive undertaking of reissuing every previous album along with a new companion EP each. The first wave of releases hosted a cover of Elliott Smith’s “St. Ides Heaven” with Phoebe Bridgers.
Bright Eyes played two songs. Conor Oberst walked off. And now the band is suggesting Bright Eyes karaoke with Bright Eyes for the crowd…
— Caitlin Cruz (@caitlinrcruz) May 23, 2022
This is a disaster and I appreciate the attempt at triage but jesus pic.twitter.com/WIZDvXIs7C
— Caitlin Cruz (@caitlinrcruz) May 23, 2022
no disrespect to these tall boy-drinking men but this is not what I paid for pic.twitter.com/7PqAuFhgf3
Advertisement— Caitlin Cruz (@caitlinrcruz) May 23, 2022
Connor at tonight’s show in Houston before he left from brighteyes
for those of you who thought my Bright Eyes in Nashville commentary was exaggerated, here’s what people are saying about his Cleveland show last night: pic.twitter.com/g1mImUEfm7
— Lorie Liebig (@lorieliebig) April 3, 2022
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