Ed O'Brien takes EOB to Chicago, New York and Los Angeles

Ed O'Brien's EOB followed their first show in Toronto with three more club dates in six days: Lincoln Hall in Chicago on 8 February, Le Poisson Rouge in New York on 10 February and the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever in Los Angeles on 13 February. Filling a short set out with covers was very different from his other job, O'Brien told the New York crowd, with echoes of Pablo Honey³.

The set was most of Earth, due on 17 April on Capitol, of which only “Brasil” and “Shangri-La” are out so far.

Last night was an out-of-body experience. Tonight is like coming into orbit, but my feet still aren't on the ground

Ed O'Brien¹

, O'Brien said in Chicago. He dedicated “Mass” to Glenn Kotche of Wilco, who plays on Earth and was watching from the balcony, and “Brasil” ran past nine minutes.

New York was sold out. O'Brien joked that the audience knew two of his songs. That morning, he told them, a woman at Whole Foods had spotted him as a musician by his tote bag and told him to express himself and not hold back, which was what he needed to hear, and he dedicated a song to her. He said he was surprised a Monday night had sold out, and that the band would be back in the summer, with Bonnaroo and the Newport Folk Festival booked so far.

Los Angeles was a room of 150. O'Brien dedicated “Sail On” to his grandmother, who had died recently at 103, and Alvin Ford Jr. took a drum solo in “Olympik”. The band had begun rehearsing in Wales only four weeks earlier, and many of the endings were still unsettled, turning into jams cued by hand signals. There was no encore; O'Brien said they ended on a cover because they had run out of songs. We're starting to feel like a band⁴, he said.

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