I like to consider myself fairly well read and rarely ill-informed when it comes to a lot of modern music, but last night, I was completely unprepared for how big a full Bon Iver band could sound. Justin Vernon brought his namesake to Minneapolis' largest theatre for the second of two sold-out shows, and all the adjectives in the world couldn't describe the positive energy that resonated from its seats. There are always bound to be a few shows a year that will live on in "were you there?" lore, and last night was one of them.
Doing with ease what Iron & Wine failed to do with effort a few months back, Vernon's troupe built each and every song into sweltering, encompassing anthems, with every guitar strum or french horn blast or triangle 'tink' executed to perfection. Opening with the understated but pounding "Perth" and [arguably the best song on the new record] "Minnesota, WI," the band immediately asserted their dominance over an awestruck crowd, many of whom were in attendance the night before. The duel drummers could have come across as cheesy, but instead they sounded epic. No time was this more evident than on "Creature Fear," which morphed into a no holds barred jam session for several minutes as the simple light towers pulsed hypnotically behind Vernon and his eight collaborators. After "Creature Fear" screeched to a close, I was already [pleasantly] convulsing, and I would've been fine just hearing that be played 12 more times.
To help us gain our proverbial footing, we were given a restrained version of "Hinnom, TX" which turned out to be one of my favorite songs of the night. Vernon holds himself with such modesty on stage, even when the output is the antithesis. Shortly thereafter, it was cover time. Admittedly, I've never been a huge Bjork fan, but to hear Vernon reinterpret the vocals to "Who Is It" to fit his famous falsetto was nothing short of remarkable (all while his trombonist/trumpeter/percussionist expertly beatboxed rather than just playing a recorded version of the song's vocal beat loop). Later, a haunting quiet respect befell the crowd as Vernon (and he alone) played a gorgeous rendition of "Re: Stacks." Book-ended by singles “Holocene” and “Calgary,” I'm fairly certain the only thing that was heard from the crowd during that song was the figurative dropping of jaws.
The main set closed with a steadily growing sing-along to "Wolves." Vernon invited the receptive crowd to join the entire chorus, with a booming "what might have been lost." What couldn't have been foreseen was watching members of the audience slowly rising to their feet in random aisles, bellowing the refrain from the top of their lungs, acting as an equivalent to a 'slow clap' in high school movies. After a brief break and some ear-shattering applause, Vernon and his gang took the stage for a relaxed three-song encore, consisting of “Beth/Rest,” “Flume” and possibly one of the most smile-inducing songs of the evening, “Skinny Love.”
But really, you had to be there.
