Kevin Bronson on March 15th, 2019

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There was a lot to like Wednesday night about Better Oblivion Community Center, the Conor Oberst-Phoebe Bridgers collaboration with the quirky name and the questioning songs: the staging of the show at the Teragram Ballroom; the obvious chemistry between the duo; the dips into each other’s catalog; the adoring, cross-generational crowd; the cameos from Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner; the Replacements cover song; the beach balls.

The music on the duo’s self-titled album, surprise-released in January, succeeds for the reasons the best duet projects do. It subtly reveals the perspectives of each individual and finds strength in their commonalities. In the case of Oberst, 39, already one of the foremost songwriters of his generation and with a vast catalog to prove it, and Bridgers, 24, that means confronting all the sad stuff. Their folk-rock is salve for inevitable wounds and seeing that pain in others, music that implicitly suggests mopery itself is a form of therapy.

Backed by a mural of a building with a sign that read “It Will End in Tears,” BOCC immediately switched the mood in the sold-out Teragram after the wonky set from main support band Sloppy Jane mercifully ended. They kicked off the show with the shuffling “My City” — because this was their first L.A. show, and, as Oberst said, Bridgers is a “hometown hero.” “This town is a monolith / This town is a crowded movie / This town is a depot, I come and go / This town is my city,” they sang in unison.

It was the beginning of a night of ebb and flow from Oberst and Bridgers and their three backing musicians. Stuffed into the middle of the set was “Would You Rather,” the song from Bridgers’ 2017 debut album “Stranger in the Alps” on which Oberst guested. It was followed by “Exception to the Rule,” which proved a moment of uplift. The pair duetted while seated in beach chairs at the front of the stage while a couple of beach balls bounced around the room.

After the solemn “Chesapeake,” BOCC revved up for a cover of the Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait” (a surprise for those who hadn’t seen setlists from their previous tour stops). Zinner, who guests on the BOCC album, joined in for the energetic single “Dylan Thomas” before Bridgers and Oberst slipped the crowd another mickey, dipping into each other’s catalog.

Bridgers took the lead on a lush rendition of “Bad Blood,” a Bright Eyes song that dates to 2001. Then Oberst took over to transform the Bridgers song “Funeral” into a punk-emo thrasher reminiscent of his old band Desaparecidos.

They performed Bright Eyes’ “Easy/Lucky/Free” as well in the encore before ending their 75-minute show with “Dominos.” “Trade sleep for drinks in a bar,” that song goes, and it rang true as they departed the stage well into the midnight hour. It was a melancholy nightcap to be sure, but it did not end in tears.

Sloppy Jane preceded BOCC with a monumentally forgettable set. Not so with Christian Lee Hutson, who played in the BOCC live band and opened the night with a set of his erudite folk music.

Setlist: My City, Big Black Heart, Service Road, Sleepwalkin’, Forest Lawn, Would You Rather, Exception to the Rule, Chesapeake, Can’t Hardly Wait, Dylan Thomas, Little Trouble, Bad Blood, Funeral, Didn’t Know What I Was in For. Encore: Easy/Lucky/Free, Dominos

Photos by Jessica Hanley