$30 Project

Justin Vernon has two drummers. Justin Vernon has woodwinds. Justin Vernon has a brass section. I don’t know if you know this, but Justin Vernon is a BIG F@*KING DEAL. Ahem.

Last night, I went to see Bon Iver play the United Palace Theater and it is one of the more disappointing shows that I’ve been to in a while. As I type this, he’s in Brooklyn playing Prospect Park. I have no doubt that it will be the exact same set that was played yesterday evening. 

Which is EXACTLY my main gripe with Bon Iver live. 

ABSOLUTELY NO SPONTANEITY WHATSOEVER. 

The whole performance is so meticulously choreographed that it sucked the thrill of live music right out of the theater. (And I’m talking choreographed right down to the placement of the hand claps during the encore of “Skinny Love.”) It was just so… perfect. YUCK. Just… YUCK. 

Part of experiencing a live show is the charm of its mistakes. Here is music you have listened to (presumably, quite a bit) and a musician you’ve adored (again, likely quite a bit), and although they’re on stage… there they are! Right there in front of you! They’re real! They’re sweating profusely! They’re asking the sound guy to turn something down! (I’m not a very technical person so I don’t much understand this aspect.) They hit a wrong note or take just a bit too long to tune their guitar or announce they’re going to try something new even though it might not sound exactly right AND IT’S ALL GREAT. Suddenly they are less of an imaginary vision whose art you interact with and more of a person. 

For me, this is always very inspiring; to watch part of the process, its messiness, and know that at a certain point in time the album that I love started out as everything else always does. Just a tiny meandering thought. There’s something very humanizing about the whole business. 

There could be a whole variety of reasons that I just wasn’t feeling this show. Vernon mentioned that the band is just coming off a monster tour so perhaps they had played these songs together so many times that they couldn’t help but maintain this type of polished sheen. Whatever the case, I was bored. They bored me. There were no surprises. 

While I did enjoy the cover of Bjork’s “Who Is It”… it had been done before. And while I did actually like the sing-along during the encore of “The Wolves”… same. Done before! Many times over! WHERE WAS THE LIFE, JUSTIN?! Where was the life. (Hangs head.) If all the beauty is sucked out by the banal nature of repetition, how is the show supposed to be fun? You’re supposed to make me believe that you haven’t played these songs 9.9 million times the past couple of years. That’s your job, dude! (Disclaimer: You are allowed an off-night. I’m going for humor here and I still have on a crush on you. So there.)

The rest of the audience seemed to get along just dandy, so perhaps it was me. Maybe I was just in a mood. But, I don’t know. 

It’s sad to think that I would rather put the record on during an aimless walk (which I will continue to do, because I like it very much) than watch the songs being performed right in front of me. 

Seems to be the case, though. 

I’m not quite sure how, but I’m sure Kanye’s to blame.