It seems fair to say that the Bright Eyes reunion has not gone fully according to plan. Conor Oberst announced the return of his old band just before the pandemic hit, and they didn’t get to play the big tour that they’d planned. When the reformed Bright Eyes gave their first performance in nine years, it was a remote live-in-studio video for Stephen Colbert’s Late Show. At the time, the band was building up to the release of the album Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was. That album is nearly two years old now, but Bright Eyes are still out promoting it. Last night, those efforts took them back to Colbert. This time, they got to play in the studio.

Since releasing that album, Bright Eyes have gotten back on the road, though they’ve faced complications there, too. A few days ago, Conor Oberst — or one of the accounts credited to one of Oberst’s musical projects, anyway — got into some Twitter drama that doesn’t really warrant a further explanation here. (You can go ahead and Google around for that story if it’s important to you.) When Oberst was on Colbert last night, he had a distinct just-rolled-out-of-bed vibe. But raw, heart-on-sleeve messiness is nothing new for Oberst, and he makes it work for him.

On Colbert, Oberst and his band played the Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was song “Dance And Sing,” with a whole team of strings and horns backing them up. Oberst rocked a dangly earring and multi-colored nails and a cast on his wrist and what looked like pajamas, and he sounded hoarse and intense. But one of the cool things about Bright Eyes is watching this guy give grand, majestic, elaborate performance while looking like he’s barely holding himself together. That’s what he did on Colbert. Watch it below.

Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was is out now on Dead Oceans.