I've seen these guys before, back in Birmingham. I remember vividly the circumstances, which looking back are highly comical - I recall a serious period of stress as I battled to juggle studies and a very exciting film project with acoustic musician Liam Blake. A project which turned out to be our mini-documentary about his album. I was at uni in Salford and I needed my car for this exciting filming endeavour however many miles away in Bath, we had to load up and get our kit there for Friday night. Happily, Bon Iver in Birmingham fell on a Wednesday, which we are allowed our afternoon's off Uni for sports, so I was able to hop home to Banbury on the train and leave almost immediately to head back up north in my trusty Corsa, stopping in Birmingham with my best pal on the way to watch this gig! Believe me, the madness resembled sporting intensity. End result, car positioned nicely, get to watch a great gig, and make it to Thursday morning lectures. Mad logistics, the whole film project was a logistic western-super in itself.
That first time round concert was bizarre, needless so say with so much faff with travel, we go there late and missed the support who was the sensational Kathleen Edwards. That tardiness might have had something to do with the time taken eating some curly fries in Moobah, which was probably quite sluggish in hindsight. We managed to station ourselves back-right of the concert hall and watched from a distance as the band tore up the stage!
Those days are so fresh in the memory and they are fond days. I had treasured this Bon Iver album ever since the tracks really grew on my taste palette early Summer '11. The emotion I derive in the songs comes mainly from the escapism they provided when I needed some down time on our Bulgaria lads holiday, a boundary-pushing experience! The unbelievably soporific and rich soundscape that album has was brilliant as a distraction from any discomfort, and still is.
Fly forward to the Birmingham setting...everything from the car park we used - the Apcoa (I got lost trying to get out once, when a group of pals and I saw Lissie perform on 31st Oct 2010..I remember because there were lots of fancy dressed brummies around!), the chippy; Moobah, also getting lost in the underpass at that previous Lissie gig...lots of the setting for this Bon Iver concert really hit home a sense of familiarity and fondness, which amplified a homely warmth in amongst a torrent of stress and juggling!
The Manchester Arena gig evoked different emotions, In fact the whole gig was a completely different vibe from start to finish.
Firstly, I went along with my girlfriend. We've had it in the calendar for months and it's slipped out of our minds as if it was water through a sieve. Ironic considering how close we hold the music to our lives. This was lovely, was a brilliant evening of laughs and spectacle. I even bought a T'shirt...which I subsequently left underneath my seat and I haven't seen since.
Also managed to catch the support act, who were again phenomenal. A group of girls called The Staves, who provided the perfect kind of acoustic-folk that you'd find mid-afternoon at Fairport.
The action then hit a level of incendiary you rarely find at a gig. I never expected Bon Iver to hit the stage with such force and drive...they had a perfectly synchronised light show, which complemented an epic 9-piece band. Flawless from start to finish, we saw Bon Iver push the intensity of his self-titled second album to instrumental realms I didn't realise existed!..the sound was so full of life and energy too. The neat mix from Perth into Minnesota to start the gig was a highlight - both for its instrumental quality and for the visceral pleasure of the whole thing!
Seriously one of the best gigs I'ver ever paid witness to, and I highly doubt he'll be on our again anytime soon to lap up the quality again. Fantastic again.
