Conor Oberst Quits Texas Show Two Songs In, as a Reportedly Erratic Bright Eyes Tour Continues

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticA tour by the band Bright Eyes that has led fans to express concern over the erratic behavior of frontman Conor Oberst reached its most provocative point yet Sunday night, as the singer was described as taking leave of the music after just a song and a half.

The remaining musicians invited fans onto the stage to fill in, karaoke-style, for a number of tunes before the show was canceled altogether and refunds offered.The fun of the impromptu karaoke notwithstanding, the Houston concert may have represented a nadir for a tour that has seen Oberst’s fans lament his behavior at numerous stops along the way, although other dates seem to have come off without much of a hitch.“Conor was in awful shape,” reported one Houston fan on social media, in a reaction typical of dozens of posts coming in from concertgoers on the scene.

Oberst was described as looking unsteady as he hit the stage and “only remember(ing) a fraction of the lyrics for [second song] ‘Lover I Don’t Have to Love.’ … Then Conor left the stage after the track ended and never came back.

Nate (Walcott) and Mike (Mogis) did their best to try to keep the show going and apologized to the crowd multiple times. After 10-15 mins they finally brought out the rest of the band and pulled fans out of the crowd to play three songs, karaoke-style.” Following that, representatives of the venue came on stage and offered refunds, saying the show would be halted after one more karaoke number.