2 Gigs with Bon Iver

By some margin Bon Iver is my band/singer/album of the year. My iTunes "Most played" tells me, the t-shirt I wear repeatedly tells me, the fact that I've paid to see him twice tells me. Alright so the first time he was only the support act to Jens Lekman (I say only, they seemed to get just as much interest, if not more, as the headliner). But it was still a fantastic gig (Jens was excellent too, if a little hampered by a dodgy PA).

The second time I saw them was just out of this world. The venue was a bit different, St Giles' church London. Now I like churches (I spend a lot of time in them one way or another), I like the aesthetics, I like the acoustics, particularly the older churches which were built in a time before amps and screeching PAs. Alright so the church didn't have a bar... no worries, just pop to the Samuel Smiths pub next door between the bands (believe me, even if there was a bar, you wouldn't be popping out during Bon Iver's performance).

According to the aforementioned play-count I've listened to "For Emma..." over 30 times, but live and with the other members of the three piece that Bon Iver are at present, they acquire a new dimension with electric guitar solos that don't go over the top, with 3 part harmonies that take the vocals to another level, with.... well with everything you could hope for to make for a special evening.

The closing song was a bit special too. Justin announced that they would be doing the final song in the midst of the crowd, without amps or mics, so all three come out into the centre of the church and with only camera flashes for illumination sing an absolutely spine-tingling performance of the album's title track.