Review: Bon Iver returns to the road with a blend of experimentation, emotional intensity
MESA, Ariz. – Justin Vernon was four songs deep into opening night of Bon Iver's first U.S. tour since the pandemic shut things down in early 2020 when he paused coming out of a mournful "Jelmore" to share what he was feeling in that moment.
"I can't tell you what it feels like to be up here playing for you guys right now," he told the crowd at Mesa Amphitheatre. "It's been a minute."
Their last big concert before the shutdown was, in fact, in downtown Phoenix, where they headlined McDowell Mountain Music Festival with an equally stunning display of intensely emotional vulnerability filtered through a wide array of digital manipulation.
Vernon's vocals, in particular, were frequently run through a combination of software and assorted gear that not only allows him to alter his pitch like Auto-Tune or an old-school vocoder but also to create a wall of harmonies in real time.
The effect is otherworldly and yet it somehow only underscores the raw emotion of the songs themselves and Vernon's awe-inspiring singing voice, especially when he hits that sweet spot in the upper register of his three-octave range.
It doesn't hurt that the man has surrounded himself with a team of stellar multi-instrumentalists – Sean Carey, Jenn Wasner, Mike Lewis, Matt McCaughan and Andy Fitzpatrick.
Each musician performed in his or her own geometric lighting pod under a diamond-shaped lighting rig.
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Vernon and his bandmates set the tone for a set that put the focus squarely on 2019's "I,I" with a haunting rendition of "22 (OVER S∞∞N)" from their previous album, "22, A Million," before diving into the soulful experimentation of "iMi" and "We," the first two proper tracks on "I,I."
From there, they made their way through highlights as ambitious as the gospel-flavored "U (Man Like)," the heavy bass of "10 d E A T h b R E a s T," the drama of "715 - CRΣΣKS" and "Heavenly Father" before reaching back to the album that started it all, 2007's "For Emma, Forever Ago," for a dreamy rendition of "Blindsided."
A wash of cymbals underscored Vernon's guitar lick as they followed the magic of "Blindsided" with "Perth," a song whose instrumental break was so electrifying, you could feel it in your chest.
After a meditative yet noisy performance of "Marion," Vernon took a moment to see if there were any people from his home state of Wisconsin in the audience. When a handful of people responded, he took the opportunity to tease them.
"Couple of snowbirds here," he said. "You guys are really missing out on a great winter. We call you guys cheaters."
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The saxophonist harmonized with Vernon's keyboard on an epic "____45_____," which gave way to the sampled vocal loops of "33 'GOD' ” and the speaker-rumbling bass tones of "8 (circle)" as the set made its way to a crowd-pleasing finish.
Then, after a gorgeous, acoustic-guitar driven “Holocene,” Vernon admitted that the tour launch was not going off without a hitch, regardless of how good it sounded.
"I brought the wrong keyboard," he said, as he struggled to figure out what chord he was supposed to play. "I guess I've been outed as a person who only plays in C and transposes all the keyboard part."
He apparently got the chords all sort out before leading his bandmates in a super-soulful version of "Sh'Diah," a ballad whose title is an abbreviation for “(Expletive) Day in American History”, referring to the day after Donald Trump’s election in 2016.
"Sh'Diah" had an almost Prince-like vibe and was followed by the final number of the proper set, "Naeem," which built to an explosive climax with Vernon inserting profanities in his gritty shouts of "I can hear."
They returned to start the encore without Carey, who was in the bathroom backstage but returned in time to join his bandmates on the first song of the encore, "Blood Bank."
Then, Vernon told the crowd, "In March of 2020, we played in town and then a month later, we had to make this song" by way of introducing “PDLIF (Please Don’t Live In Fear),” a song whose proceeds benefited healthcare workers on the COVID-19 frontline through Direct Relief.
They signed off on an existential note, with Vernon reminding the crowd as he introduced "RABi" that "This song's about death."
As songs about death go, "RABi" has an oddly life-affirming quality. And it served as a suitably haunting conclusion to a tour launch that found Vernon and his bandmates reasserting themselves as modern masters of pushing the experimental envelope with music that resonates on a profoundly emotional scale.
Bon Iver tour launch setlist
"22 (OVER S∞∞N)"
"iMi"
"We"
"Jelmore"
"U (Man Like)"
"10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄"
"715 - CR∑∑KS"
"Heavenly Father"
"Blindsided"
"Perth"
"666 ʇ"
"Faith"
"Marion"
"Towers"
"____45_____"
"33 'GOD'”
"8 (circle)"
"Holocene"
"Sh’Diah"
"Naeem"
"Blood Bank"
"PDLIF"
"RABi"