Bright Eyes celebrates at Hollywood Bowl with two full album performances

For fans of Bright Eyes, Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles was a dream come true.

The indie rock band, led by Conor Oberst, celebrated the 21st anniversary of their albums “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” and “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn,” which were released on the same day in 2005, by playing them both in full.

The “It’s a Birthday Party!” tour has only three stops, with the Bowl as the second, drawing fans from all over the country.

Bright Eyes kicked off the show at 7 p.m. sharp with “At the Bottom of Everything” from “Wide Awake” as fans continued to meander into the venue, making for a mellow crowd throughout most of the band’s first set.

Many stayed seated, swaying along with the music or bobbing their heads and humming along.

But by the time the band wrapped up the first album with “Road to Joy,” most were up on their feet, cheering, dancing, and singing along as the sun began to set. As they came to a close, children joined them on stage, smashing toy musical instruments with toy bats, which might have garnered some of the loudest cheers from the stands.

Fans Bailey Middleton, 31, and Michael Arter, 36, made the drive up from San Diego to see Bright Eyes, describing the group as one of their favorites and the albums as some of their all-time favorites.

Arter admitted to feeling a little emotional watching the performance. “I might have teared up a few times. I’m feeling the feels,” he said.

Between “Wide Awake” and “Digital Ash,” The Moldy Peaches performed an acoustic intermission.

Once the night had settled in, Bright Eyes returned to the stage with new background imagery and wardrobe and launched into “Time Code.”

Oberst’s vocals were as strong as ever throughout the evening, but seemed to grow more assured as the band moved through their second album performance. He also grew more conversational with the crowd, telling stories between songs.

The band took almost all the time they were allotted before curfew and even managed to fit in an encore of four songs, which included “America the Beautiful” and “Lover I Don’t Have to Love.”