All photos by Sam Goresh.
To be totally honest, I went to this showing knowing only one about a guy who went into a cabin for the winter with a broken heart and came out in the spring as a rock star — kind of an indie Eric Carle tale. Maybe I was showing bad music journalism manners, setting out to review a rock show with no idea what I was about to get myself into (and I probably shouldnt have admitted to it just now). I thought seriously for days about doing some homework in advance, but I really didnt want to. The thing is, I love to hear something for the first time live, at the show, before I’ve ever laid ears on the album. So, if you tell me I just have to hear someone, Ill Google them first to see if they’re coming to town. I’ve fallen in love with some great music that way, and here I am again, head over heels for Bon Iver. (Pictured: Justin Vernon)
The set-up between bands took a while. Maybe it just seemed like half my life because I was sweating it out on the railing at the back of the room downstairs. (Is there any club in town with really great A/C, even in summer?) When Elvis Perkins in Dearland performed (more on them in another post), there was this huge mass of band in the middle of the stage. After Bon Iver’s instruments were finally put in order, it looked like there were four separate stations. Almost as if four one-man-bands were going to play. Okay, I thought, this should be interesting. (More pics after the jump)
This article appears in Jun 10-16, 2009.
