It took a Wisconsinite to make me feel back at home this weekend, but for as much time I spent in the Dairyland, there’s no place like Chicago. After seeing Bon Iver as a one-man band at Madison Pop Fest in November, the expanded line-up loosened it up a bit and brought the already intensely emotional songs to a near epic level. With two other gentlemen accompanying him on stage, Justin Vernon was able to remove his focus from the looping and kick-drumming that made up his solo shows and place all his concentration on what he does best – strumming and singing.
I brought along a camera to relay sound and image to all you LMB readers, but sadly the sound portion failed me. I do recommend checking out the sessions Justin did for The Current, Mpls’s hip section of their public radio. He flies solo in these songs, so if you want to check out the expanded line-up you’ll have to wait until April when he Bon Iver comes back to Chicago or get all Penny Lane and follow him around for the next couple months.
Camera failures aside, the night picked up when I got to chat with Justin and one of his new band members, a twenty-year old ex-guitar student of Justin’s from back in Eau Claire, WI. Leave it to a good midwestern boy to keep it local. Smiles leaked from their faces onstage and you could tell everyone was feeling warm despite the bitter cold outside. And given that the record comes out in less than a month on Jagjaguwar, things can only get better for the Bon Iver boys.
HEADY LINKS: Hangout Fest, Bon Iver, Bowlive III & more… [caption id="attachment_20773" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Lineup tomorrow!"][/caption]
Don't forget that the lineup for Hangout Music Fest is coming out tomorrow. We're hearing that Wi...
VIDEO: Bon Iver on Saturday Night Live
Bon Iver was the musical guest on this weekend's Saturday Night Live, which also featured a funny Lana Del Rey cameo (done by Kristin Wiig) on Weekend Update. Mr. Vernon performed "Holoscene" and...
Coachella 2012 Lineup Announced The lineup for Coachella 2012 has been posted! This year's festival will be bringing headliners The Black Keys, Radiohead, and Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg to the two-weekend affair down in Indio, CA. Oth...
TUNES / TOUR DATES: An Organic Find of Megafaun Megafaun is currently winding down their tour on the West Coast with shows near Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. I'll be checking out their intimate show this coming Sunday @McCabesGuitar Sho...
Disco Biscuits: New Year’s Eve run NYC -> Chicago To celebrate the close of the year, the band is playing their two-night run for New Year's at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre after a three-night run in NYC at Best Buy Theater. Tickets go on pre-sale f...
PHOTOS: 12th Planet & 16 Bit @ Logan Square Auditorium, 8/6/11 Andrei Molchanov was able to hit a few after-parties following each day of Lollapalooza earlier this month, and he shot the 12th Planet and 16 Bit show for the site. Read on for his full gallery from ...