The last Bright Eyes show was at Honolulu’s Hawaii Theatre, and it was in November of 2011. Since then, Conor Oberst’s longtime project has been inactive, as Oberst himself has been busy with his solo career and various other enterprises. But at the beginning of the year, Bright Eyes announced their big return. By now, they were supposed to have finished the North American leg of their big comeback tour, and they were supposed to be getting ready to hit Europe. Instead, the pandemic hit, and plans changed. Last night, on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, Bright Eyes performed as a band for the first time in nearly nine years.

Yesterday, Bright Eyes announced their plans to release the new album Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was — the follow-up to 2011’s The People’s Key — later this summer. They also dropped the new song “Mariana Trench.” (They’d already dropped the new tracks “Persona Non Grata” and “One And Done.”) Last night, as the Colbert musical guests, they assembled in a studio somewhere to play Mariana Trench for the cameras. At least, I think they were all in the same room at the same time. The camera never panned back to show them all together.

This was our first chance to see the Bright Eyes lineup that will presumably tour whenever it’s safe to tour. They sounded great. The band included Lucius on backup vocals and Anna Butterss on bass, as well as horn players and a drummer, alongside regular members Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nathaniel Walcott. Oberst rocked shaggy quarantine hair and black leather gloves. “Mariana Trench” surged and crashed. Watch the performance below.

Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was is out 8/21 on Dead Oceans. Pre-order it here. Read our We’ve Got A File On You feature with Conor Oberst here.