Bright Eyes fans who missed last year’s first-in-a-decade tour of Conor Oberst and his bandmates Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott will get a second chance at seeing the trio this Friday, when tickets go on sale for eight new Bright Eyes shows at small venues across the Midwest and South as he tours ahead of his performance at the Corona Capital festival in Guadalajara, May 21.

Demand for the brief tour is expected to be high as Oberst and crew follow up last year’s extensive U.S. and European tour in support of their 2020 record Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was, which debuted at No. 36 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

While the 2022 tour generally received positive reviews from fans — including a July performance at LA Greek’s Theatre that music writer Jeff Miller described as “moving with confidence, playing with heart, and still foraging his woe-is-me persona in a wholly relatable way” — the tour did struggle midway through, with Oberst even walking off stage during a May gig in Houston.

But Oberst and the band were able to iron out the issues and close 2022 with a kinetic and powerful set at the Corona Capital festival inside Mexico City’s sprawling Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. From opening his set with anxious and frenzied rendition of his 2020 album opening “Dance and Song” to taking the guitar for a shaking and exhausting ride through “Old Soul Song,” Bright Eyes crew delivered a set that went as close to the edge of Oberst’s discontent as anyone dare venture.

Starting May 10, the 42-year-old Omaha native and his bandmates will perform at the famed Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, First Avenue in Minneapolis and the brand-new Salt Shed in Chicago on May 12, before heading south for a second chance in Houston where he will once again perform at the city’s famed White Oak Music Hall, almost exactly one year from the anniversary of the cancelled 2022 gig. It’s an audacious move, and while his camp is cautious not to overhype his return, it’s encouraging for many to see him face the past on his own terms.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Central. Purchase tickets here.  

BRIGHT EYES 2023 TOUR DATES

May 10 – Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater

May 11 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue

May 12 – Chicago, IL – Salt Shed

May 13 – Columbia, MO – Rose Park

May 14 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom*

May 15 – Little Rock, AK – The Hall

May 17 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theater

May 18 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall

May 21 – Guadalajara, MX – Corona Capital Guadalajara