Bright Eyes w/ Titus Andronicus

By 2008, singer-songwriter Conor Oberst seemed to have outgrown the Bright Eyes moniker he had been recording under since he had been a teenager. So he moved on, recording an Americana-minded 2008 self-titled solo album and a 2009 follow-up that spotlighted his backing Mystic Valley Band, as well as an album with M. Ward and My Morning Jacket's Jim James as Monsters of Folk. He made good on his promise to revisit Bright Eyes one last time before retiring the project, though, releasing this year's possible swan song The People's Key, a keyboard-heavy pop album far removed from his recent forays into country. New Jersey openers Titus Andronicus, who owe an obvious debt to Bright Eyes' early recordings, made an impressive statement with last year's album The Monitor, an utterly audacious Civil War-themed punk-rock opera.