All photos by Abby Fisher
If the sheer magnitude of Bon Iver, Bon Iver hasn’t already solidified in your mind Justin Vernon’s transformation from wintry minimalist to wide-eyed mad scientist of arrangement, then seeing his band live most certainly will.
While the fables of Bon Iver will always include chapters about cabins and seclusion, the band has now multiplied in every measurable context. There are nine touring members and, even before they took the stage at Washington D.C.’s popular 9:30 Club on Tuesday night, it was apparent this was to be no one-man show. The stage was adorned with two drum kits, an assortment of guitars, strings, trumpets, keyboards, mixers, pedals, a bass saxophone the size of a sixth-grader, and a table off to the side that looked like a musician’s toolshed, full of cymbals, shakers, chimes, and assorted percussion paraphenalia. When Vernon wrote and recorded For Emma, Forever Ago, he made the most of his limited resources. Clearly, his individual successes have spawned quite the comeuppance.
The band eased into unveiling their new live sound with “Perth,” sending Vernon’s falsetto across some inflective electric guitar and a light stampede of percussion. As the song crashed into its first apex, Colin Stetson went to work on his giant saxophone, unloading a wave of chest-rattling bass. Cymbals crashed, guitar riffs crunched, and just like that, with an energetic audience begging them on, Bon Iver evolved into a monstrous, full-fledged rock band.
Pillars of light of different sizes lit up and down and spotlights stayed affixed to Vernon as the band played through more of their new material early on, namely “Minnesota, WI,” “Towers” (described as “about a bottle of wine and some virginity… and the dorms”), and “Holocene.” They nailed each song flawlessly, but it didn’t yet feel like they’d been fully challenged. After all, the material on Bon Iver, Bon Iver was constructed for this kind of scope.
The band proved they could adapt songs written for smaller ensembles first with “Creature Fear,” starting slowly with horns and gentle drums before jolting into a raucus jam session while the background lights strobed violently, and then later with “Bracket, WI,” something of a rarity off 2009’s Dark Was the Night benefit compilation. They mixed in a breath-taking rendition of “Flume,” one of the few instances where Vernon eschewed his electric guitar for an acoustic. But the best takes on old songs during the first part of the set came in the form of “Blood Bank,” now a passionate rocker that sent Vernon to his knees, hunched and shredding away at his instrument, and “Wolves (Act I and II),” an explosive performance complete with an ascendingly loud sing-a-long of the song’s “what might have been lost” refrain that eventually combusted into scorching yells and percussion so heavy the band may as well have been drumming with pipe bombs.
As great as the band sounded morphing their back catalog of comparatively modest arrangements into enormous soundscapes, they were equally impressive tackling Bjork’s “Who Is It.” For this feat, Vernon himself went bare bones, lending only his unmistakable vocals and the subtle jangle of finger cymbals and a shaker. In fact, the song was void of guitars completely, instead opting for soft strings, drums, jazzy saxophone, and brilliant — and unforeseen — beatboxing. It was without a doubt one of the best cover tunes in recent memory.
The band caught their breath off-stage after “Wolves (Act I and II),” then returned to the behest of the crowd for an inevitable encore set of three songs. First, they played mainstay “Skinny Love,” which saw Vernon clasping the weathered guitar that’s now become synonymous with the song while six of his bandmates surrounded him to lend backing vocals, stomps, and hand claps. At the song’s climax, tandem drummers added forceful percussion. This was, in a sense, as close to a religious experience as one can have at a club show.
To close, Bon Iver unleashed the gorgeous 1980’s prom irony of “Beth/Rest,” which had Vernon’s vocals reverbed and amplified. There were parts here where it seemed like having nine members on stage might not be the best of ideas, but those thoughts dissipated in the song’s powerful latter moments. And then, appropriately enough, the night concluded with “For Emma,” a song ripe with the kinds of horns and layers so plentiful on Bon Iver, Bon Iver that ends with the whisper of “for Emma, forever ago,” the name of the cathartically magnificent project that started it all.
Setlist:
Perth
Minnesota, WI
Towers
Holocene
Creature Fear
Flume
Hinnom, TX
Wash.
Brackett, WI
Blood Bank
Who Is It (Bjork cover)
Re: Stacks
Calgary
Wolves (Act I and II)
Skinny Love
Beth/Rest
For Emma
NPR was at the 9:30 Club providing a live audio webcast — and some serious videography, though its unclear exactly what for — and has preserved the complete recording of the show. Listen to it and download your keepsake copy below:
