Bright Eyes, Feist and Magic Numbers to perform

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Bright Eyes in concert at 8 p.m. on Nov. 21 in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

Recording since the age of 13 and tagged "King of Indie Rock" by Rolling Stone and "Indie Rock's Dark Prince" by TIME, the now 25 year-old Conor Oberst belongs to the lineage of great American songwriters. Bright Eyes appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn," and were a prominent addition to the MTV2-televised 2003 Shortlist Awards. In October of 2004 he was invited to join Bruce Springsteen and REM on the Rock the Vote tour of swing states in advance of the presidential election. His performance at those shows sealed his reputation as a creative force, able to command the attention of thousands of rock fans with, at times, just his voice and an acoustic guitar.

Over the past two years Oberst, lead singer/songwriter of Bright Eyes, has found himself hurled from his indie rock enclave onto the world's stage. While reaching new heights of commercial success, he was hailed by fans as the finest songwriter of his generation. But he remains an artist unwilling to leave his hometown label for any major label's promises.

All the while, critical acclaim has spread far and wide with Bright Eyes selling out several hugely lauded tours and finding an ever swelling and ravenous audience throughout the world. Oberst's latest compositions were released simultaneously as two separate, cohesive records, "I'm Wide Awake," "It's Morning" and "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" in January.

"I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" is a country-tinged mélange of Conor's finest acoustic songs, featuring guest vocal appearances from Emmylou Harris and Jim James. The second, "Digital Ash In A Digital Urn," is a more produced, band-centric album featuring cameo appearances by Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The songs are bursting with all of the heartfelt poetry for which Bright Eyes records have earned their acclaim. The rough edges are still there -- the splintering of a note held too long, the crack of the voice as it reaches slightly too far, the inadvertent thump of a thumb against a fret -- but there is a glorious new level of depth and texture to the writing and delivery.

Since the release of Bright Eyes' fourth full-length album in 2002, "Lifted" or "The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground," Oberst has released an almost constant stream of new material for collaborative EPs, tribute albums, and charity records. He ventured into the studio with Nebraska folk-pop outfit Tilly And The Wall, co-producing their debut album "Wild Like Children" and then releasing it on his newly established record label, Team Love. And yet, despite all of this recording and performing, it is his songwriting that has taken unmitigated precedence.

Tickets for Bright Eyes are $24. Tickets are available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Center for the Arts Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations, including Kaufmann's. To charge tickets, call 852-5000; in Canada, call 1-416-870-8000. For group sales, call 645-6771. For more information, call 645-ARTS. The Center for the Arts is a Ticketfast location.