let the wild wolves surround you
Photo credit
I never had much tolerance for seated gigs, let alone seated, outdoor gigs. But fortunately, the sweet tunes of Bon Iver made all those thoughts melt away. So, on Thursday night, my younger brother (yeap, once again, had to rope in a sibling to go to a gig with me, many sighs all round) and about 11,998 other Melbourians converged on the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
I was lucky to have scored seats in the sixth row (to admit, I was quite chuffed with my ticket buying skills), which had a considerably better view than from the lawn, over the hill. We arrived there late, but still managed to catch all of Sally Seltmann's support slot. She was nice. I think my brother secretly really wanted to see her set, he's a fan of Seeker Lover Keeper, or something.
At around 9:30pm, the band (consisting of nine people! Two drumkits! Pretty much a complete brass ensemble! Insanity!) stepped onto the stage and kicked off the night with Perth, my personal favourite from the second record. With multi-instrumentalists being my musical weakness, it was a sight to behold watching these clearly and almost infuriating talented people switching between instruments so easily. One of them was even playing trumpet and casually tinkering with the keyboard...simultaneously! There was a violin solo, an epic saxophone one! The messy, noisy, breaking-down portions of songs were so well rehearsed. It was captivating.
But Justin himself was just amazing. His vocal range, his ability to emote so much with his voice alone. He didn't speak much, but when he did, he was utterly charming. He made jokes, spoke about how he measured time by toothpaste, and how he was humbled by all of us there. He took the stage alone to perform re:Stacks and that was insane. Because it was silent. You could hear a pin drop.
Setlist
Perth
Minnesota, WI
Brackett, WI
Towers
Hinnom, TX
Wash
Flume
Holocene
Blood Bank
Creature Fear
re:Stacks
Michicant
Calgary
Beth/Rest
For Emma
Skinny Love
The Wolves (Act 1 and 2)
There wasn't an encore per se. When Justin was informed about the curfew, he was all 'fuck that! We don't do curfews.' But a song later, he apologised and said they were legally bound to adhere to the curfew. But in order to fit the last two songs, the band stayed on stage as opposed to going backstage to regroup. Justin said 'Just imagine we went off stage and I had a piss and a beer and now we're back.' Awww, bless! Skinny Love was stunning, mainly because Justin would be singing along and when it came to the 'My, my, my' parts, the whole band would join in. And closing with The Wolves was perfect. Getting all about 12,000 of us to sing 'What might have been lost' = tears everywhere! And then there was a very long, but deserved standing ovation. I rate this gig: Magical.