Bon Iver - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - 11/9/08
5/5
By: Thomas Hannan
We can't take all the credit ourselves. I mean, you can count the times Rockfeedback has written about Bon Iver on one hand, and not even have to use your thumb. But I think the internet is largely responsible for the fact that a band with modest sales of a (totally wonderful) debut LP who have only previously played one London show (in support to Jens Lekman, which we caught HERE) can, on their first headline appearance in the capital, make the cavernous Shepherds Bush Empire feel like a tin of sardines, minus all the oil. Really, if this show happened, say, seven years ago, who would have cared about Bon Iver, besides 4AD Records obsessives? This isn't your standard NME / Q fodder, even though it warrants far more than token mentions in both those and other publications. People like us however - and I stress again, not just us - have been lapping this stuff up like nectar. And telling people about it. Romantic though it does not sound, the internet is why this gig is at the SBE and not for example the Borderline or Bush Hall. It's why an enchanted crowd are as excited about it as we are.
The notices plastered around the venue informing us that due to the quiet nature of tonight's performance we should all make an effort to, y'know, shut the f**k up are wholly unnecessary, as it's fair to say that from the opening strums of 'Flume', the place is communally spellbound. Bon Iver might not feel like they truly belong here yet - Justin Vernon spends gaps in between songs for the first half of the set telling us stories of how, when you're growing up in Wisconsin as he did, London is a place you dream about or study in history lessons, not somewhere your little band headlines to hundreds of people - but it's as if this crowd has been patiently waiting for this specific band all their lives.
They deliver. It helps that the songs here (aforementioned, startling debut LP For Emma, Forever Ago [reviewed HERE] is recited in its entirety, albeit with a slightly altered track listing) are of a uniformly stratospheric quality, but that was something of which everyone was aware well before the guy ripped off the unnecessary part of their ticket upon entry. It's the delivery of said songs that makes Bon Iver live a different kind of special from the special they are on record. This is a Justin Vernon solo project and long will that remain so, but Vernon's got some talented friends gently plucking guitars, twinkling keys, stroking drums and eking out heavenly harmonies to compliment his unearthly falsetto. He'd do well to stick with them. His band know exactly when to let go and unleash a heartfelt sonic fury, but most importantly, they're also aware of the moments in which being sparing with sound can create ten times that effect.
Complaints are niggling, and don't detract from the indisputable truth that it was completely wonderful, all this. But they are there, and they are these; the Talk Talk cover is unnecessary and came across as more than a little self indulgent. Bon Iver have only just over half an hour of their own material to play about with, but they're playing to an audience who are fully aware of that. They love that goddamn half hour. The band explain that they thought people had paid to see them play for longer, hence the Talk Talk wig out, and a few other covers. But gents, bear in mind in future that all of your songs are better than them. The covers are the only instances in which the set lags - and it's not often you're able to say that about a largely singer songwriter driven, mostly acoustic, decidedly folk affair. Other than that, it's only matters of setlist sequencing that seem odd to us - why come back on and play 'For Emma', grand though it is, after you've just broken everyone's heart with 'Skinny Love' before putting said organ back together again with the rousing, everyone joining in with the "what might'a been lost" bit in 'The Wolves'? Walking out of the venue on that high, I probably wouldn't even have minded that my foot is still wet as I type this from stepping in a puddle on my walk to work. As it is, it's pissing me off, I can tell you.
The rest of the gig, y'see, perfect. The new song ('Bloodbank'?) is Bon Iver's first real full band assault, and it's a sterling effort reminiscent of Springsteen circa Darkness on the Edge of Town. Or maybe a little Fleetwood Mac. He's certainly heard Neil Young's On The Beach. You start to realise that you're seeing a lot of very smooth, debatably middle of the road aspects to Bon Iver. You start to realise that there's a lot to be said for them too. A Vernon solo rendition of 'Re: Stacks' is greeted with such reverence that you can hear all the dust mites in the venue breathing in and out, and upping the pace a little bit for 'Lump Sum' injects what could have been quite a gloomy yet still beautiful affair with a much appreciated chink of sunlight. Small sources of brightness in a very dark space can illuminate a lot. In this case, such a flourish reveals a side to Bon Iver that many might not initially count as one of their strengths, but ends up being one of the most potent weapons in their sonic arsenal.
Even with barely half an hour of material of their own to offer them, Bon Iver deserve the attention of crowds this big. What's unique about them is that where so many similar bands thrive in small venues and only small venues, the sheer size of a place like this being capable of killing the intimacy that their contemporaries strive for, Bon Iver not only deserve but suit crowds this big. Makes you wonder... perhaps they're tapping in to something quite fundamental about human nature.
Or y'know, maybe it's just music.
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