There is something magical about music created in voluntary exile. Just as The Band sought solace in the wild country of Woodstock to create Big Pink, Justin Vernon chose a remote corner of rural Wisconsin to shape the music he performs here this evening.
The ballyhoo surrounding Bon Iver has already pushed the hype-ometer towards breaking point and on the strength of tonight’s performance it is entirely justified.
The power of Vernon’s etheral voice, the angelic harmonies, the rich tapestry of arrangements, the sonic layers that build intensely then ebb and flow and crash in a cataclysmic denoument – it's all thoroughly intoxicating.
The indie folk flag flies proud tonight, but blues influences also shine through, case in point being ‘Skinny Love’, which could have come straight from the Mississippi Delta. Elsewhere more direct tributes are paid in the shape of a sublime version of Graham Nash’s ‘Simple Man’ and transcendental reworking of Talk Talk’s ‘I Believe In You’.
A new track, the Wilco-esque ‘Blood Bank’ receives a particularly warm response but ‘The Wolves (Act 1 and 11)’ is the jewel in the crown. We heartily join in the refrain “What might have been” and the song culminates in what is ostensibly a screaming match between the audience and the artist, but plays out like a cathartic release of emotional energy.
The encore features a transcendental ‘Re:Stacks’ and closes with guest Anais Mitchell returning to the stage to join the band for a spine-tingling take on Sarah Siskind’s ‘Lovin’s For Fools’.
So how many days is it until the National Stadium? We can’t wait.