Phoebe Bridgers Covers Bright Eyes’ ‘First Day Of My Life’; Live-Streaming a Performance on 6/4 Benefiting The Bail Project

Phoebe Bridgers and Bright Eyes are about as intertwined as two different indie/rock acts could be right now. In addition to being an avowed fan of the band fronted by Conor Oberst for much of her life, Bridgers and Oberst released an album together in 2018 as Better Oblivion Community Center.

What’s more, Bridgers’ anticipated new album, Punisher, features contributions from Oberst and band mate Nate Walcott and was partially produced by Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis — so they’re very involved musically, to say the least.

Recently, Phoebe Bridgers recorded a version of “First Day Of My Life,” a standout song featured on Bright Eyes’ lauded 2005 album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning. Originally recorded by Bridgers for Deezer during COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, her hushed, tender rendition of the song can be heard below:

Stream the Bright Eyes original, for comparison:

Punisher will be released on June 19, and was previewed in recent week with a song called “I See You”:

As part of Phoebe Bridgers’ ongoing series of performances streamed on social media, the singer/songwriter will host another one on Thursday, June 4. For this performance, Bridgers has dedicated the entire day’s worth of proceeds from merchandise sales and album pre-orders to The Bail Project in response to the protesting going on around the country stemming from the killing of George Floyd on May 25:

Tomorrow (June 4) all profits from the merch store (including album pre-orders) will go to @bailproject.
This livestream will be a fundraiser for them as well. https://t.co/wrQTIwlOIx

— traitor joe (@phoebe_bridgers) June 3, 2020

Thursday’s live stream performance is the latest in Bridgers’ planned at-home performances, which she announced on May 20 as if they were actual concerts in gigantic venues:

View this post on Instagram

come through.

A post shared by Phoebe Bridgers (@_fake_nudes_) on May 20, 2020 at 11:42am PDT

As for Bright Eyes, the band has released a handful of new songs in recent weeks, from an as-yet-untitled new album.