Monsters of Folk played the Academy of Music tonight, and generally rocked the (enormous) place.

A few things come to mind:

• They pull off their songs really damn well. Even minimalist “Slow Down Jo” wasn’t awkward in the huge space they had to fill.
• I was a little surprised at how middle-aged the crowd was. I remember the crowd at Bright Eyes’ Cassadaga show in Denver being relatively old, but this was something else entirely, featuring all sorts of geezers my parents’ age head-bobbing to “Say Please.”
• Jim James—or Yim James, as he’s dubbed himself—is sort of a tool.
• Conor Oberst still knows how to rock, but I have to get out a few gripes: At one point in the show he said “This is my old friend”—(naturally, I filled in “Mike Mogis”)—“M. Ward.” Come on. Also, see the note after the jump about bastardizing “Kathy with a K’s Song.”
• They ignored my yelled requests for “Drunk Kid Catholic.” Assholes!!! (jokes, jokes…)

Verdict: See them.

Oh yeah, and Conor Oberst played some songs from that one old band of his… Bright Eyes? Was that what they were called? Songs after the jump.

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