Bon Iver – Milwaukee 10/11/2009
It’s an old trick but a good one. Craft an album of intimate heart-felt sadness and turn it into anthemic rock for live performances. Still, few performers can pull it off convincingly. Over the two years since Justin Vernon came out of the Wisconsin woods as Bon Iver, he’s mastered his own material and forged a sound capable of sustaining the original intimacy of For Emma, Forever Ago but also blasting through the roof of a packed theater in Milwaukee.
I’m probably not blogging much new. Thousands of concert goers have undoubtedly been impressed by the range and power of this band. But that they could take these small polished gems of songs and turn them into something else altogether is feat that I’m still trying to work my head around. On stage they’re a team of multi-instrumentalists attacking notes, beats and harmonies. Those videos from Vincent Moon’s Take-Away Shows and the Daytrotter set only hint at what this band is like live. I’m convinced (and likely joining a chorus in saying) that somewhere along the way they’ve evolved into something quite special.
“Skinny Love” was pounded by drums, “Creature Fear” approached the dizzying heights of a Thom Yorke freak-out and “Blood Bank” threatened to conjure Neil Young in Crazy Horse mode. Sitting in the cramped balcony of the Riverside Theater, I was on the edge of my seat. Only “Re: Stacks” (played solo on electric guitar) resembled the set of songs I’d come to know and love. By the time we got to “The Wolves” I was ready to sing, “what might have been lost” again and again. And even though my wife claims I was horrifically out of tune, I chanted away heartily.
Vernon apologized multiple times for the lack material. He seemed genuinely embarrassed that he couldn’t produce a show with a longer set list. His initial group of songs has been expanded on and enlarged toward jamband style workouts in fact gaining much more than what might have been lost. He hinted on stage that they’re headed into the studio to go make “like at least three more songs.” At the moment, I can’t say that I’m anticipating any other band’s next version of itself more.
UPDATE: RadioMilwaukee has made available for stream/download Bon Iver live at the Riverside (via Muzzle of Bees).
