Conor Oberst/Dawes; May 30, 2014; The Metro

I love Conor Oberst, and have for years.  I've only seen Dawes once, six years ago at my first SXSW, and didn't really care for them.  Turns out I still don't like them (it's OK, they don't need me, they have plenty of fans).  We missed most of their set, and I was all set to be annoyed until I realized one and a half songs was plenty.  It was great to see Oberst, but it wasn't my favorite show I've seen him do.  Dawes was better as a backing band than they were in their own set, but too often they thought they were THE BAND.  I'm already looking forward to seeing Oberst at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in October, or the next Bright Eyes tour, whenever that may be.