On Sunday, Better Oblivion Community Center, the sad-rock brainchild of songwriters Phoebe Bridgers and Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, will come to Cannery Ballroom not for a show, per se, but rather a “meeting.” That’s the term the band uses to stay in line with the satirical cult shtick they’ve got going on. Whatever you want to call it, it works: The “meeting” was originally supposed to be at The Basement East, but tickets went so fast that the show relocated to the larger Cannery. It’s no wonder, considering the fact that Bridgers’ last pass through Nashville in November brought the inaugural show from boygenius, her collaboration with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker. Boygenius’ self-titled album sold me on Bridgers, and the debut of Better Oblivion Community Center on The Late Show in January was the icing on the cake. It’s a neat union: Oberst was an early pioneer of the confessional folk-rock sound that Bridgers has been redefining since her 2017 debut Strangers in the Alps. January’s Better Oblivion Community Center doesn’t sound like a meeting point of old and new, but rather a proper collaboration from two songwriters who come together seamlessly, each reinforcing what the other wants to convey. Those who were lucky enough to grab tickets will have the chance to catch performances of songs from the record along with duet renditions of material from their solo discographies. If we’re lucky, we’ll get to hear them cover something from a local artist, as they did in Seattle with Death Cab for Cutie’s “Title and Registration,” or in Las Vegas with “Human” by The Killers. They’ve been throwing The Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait” in the mix, too. Openers include Chicago-based indie songwriter Lala Lala as well as Christian Lee Hutson, who recently released a single produced by Bridgers. MAMIE DAVIS
