For over three decades now, Conor Oberst has recorded a special strain of folk and rock that’s been the soundtrack of a generation (and the saving grace for a lot of people who just didn’t want to be on Earth anymore). While he’s worked under his own name, the Mystic Valley Band, and Desaparecidos—among other projects—it was the music of his most famous offering, Bright Eyes, that filled the air at St. Petersburg’s Jannus Live last Wednesday night.

Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Bright Eyes plays Jannus Live in St. Petersburg, Florida on March 5, 2025. Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Credit: Photo by Dave Decker

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...