Gig Review: Bon Iver - Hammersmith Apollo.

For years now I've been listening to Bon Iver. And by listening to, I mean having For Emma, Forever Ago on repeat for a few years, then the four track Blood Bank EP on repeat, and then this year their second album, Bon Iver, surfaced and is looking like a strong contender for my album of the year. I've watched his performance of Skinny Love on Jools Holland, countless times, felt every ounce of sadness in his Bonnie Raitt cover of I Can't Make You Love Me. And then there's his work with the one and only Kanye West just to top it all off.

It's fair to say I'm a big fan.

It's almost impossible to speak of Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon, without mentioning his retreat into a cabin in the woods after his heartbreak from his girlfriend. This is where he wrote his incredible debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago. His odd, highly pitched, yet majestic voice and simple guitar riffs culminated into a deeply sad, heartfelt record that captures the hearts of so many. It is a beautiful album, quite simply, one of the best I have ever heard.

And then came his second album, Bon Iver. Along with millions of others, I prayed that it was as incredible as I hoped it to be. And it was. Now with a 9 piece band, Bon Iver was a whole new beast. With a variety of instruments, some backing singers and some sound manipulations, Bon Iver managed to produce an album of sonic perfection. The tracks are simple and humble when they need to be, and then suddenly epic and euphoric. Every drop is perfectly timed, every lyric perfectly sung and every instrument perfectly placed. Perfect.

So after years of what seems like adoration and hero worship as I write this post, I finally got to see the man live in concert. Needless to say I was excited. Needless to say it was perfect. Like his albums, the gig had a beautiful rythem to starting off, as the sound album does with Perth and Towers, dipping down into a solo Flume and Holocene and then up in Blood Bank.




As the sold out gig progressed, the crowd was transfixed as one, yet it felt oddly personal, largely due to the nature of his songs and the emotions that he can still portray them with. It was almost like every song was going to do end the gig, but there was another and another. After one of the loudest requests for an encored I have heard, he and his band returned to finish the night on two of his sadness, yet greatest songs, For Emma and then of course Skinny Love. Despite the sadness of the songs, you can't help but join in and feel the release of the sounds on behalf of Justin. Having listened to and watched many Skinny Love videos, his live version was unique and a welcome change as he sat down with his guitar and was surrounded by his band as they clapped, stomped and sang along. It was a (sorry for repetition of) perfect end to a perfect night.

City And Colour: Royal Albert Hall

Just over a year ago I journeyed to London town, Kentish Forum to be precise, and witnessed one of the best gigs I had ever been to in the form of City and Colour. I expected it to be good, I knew the man had talent and had seen him perform with Alexisonfire, but I did not expect the performance I got that night. The power and emotion in his voice surprised me and ran shivers through my spine. A year later, I traveled back to London, but this time to an even more illustrious venue, The Royal Albert Hall, to see the man Dallas Green again. And the night more than matched the night in Kentish Forum. I was expecting his incredible voice this time, and I expect more magic, and that is what I got.

It was slightly weird as the venue filled with tattoos, piercings, fringes and skinny jeans, a crowd very much juxtaposed to the venue. This is not a place for Alexisonfire and City And Colour fans. Just being sat down as opposed to being jostled around in a sweaty moshpit, in such a venue, seemed a little surreal and even uncomfortable for most. This is the job of support, to warm up the crowd and get them ready for the main act. That night the support was provided my a new favourite of mine, James Vincent McMorrow, much more suitable than Sharks who had supported the previous year, and he more than stepped upto the mark. It may have been daunting warming up a crowd of Dallas and Alexisonfire adorers especially when he's very much in the same singer-songwriter category, but it did not show. James' voice was just as powerful and emotional as the one that would follow, you could feel the songs and lyrics. Boy did good.

Then it was time for Dallas Green as City and Colour. As he walked onto the stage with his band, the noise level went up with cries of adoration and admiration from the crowd. It was soon clear that Dallas only gets better. I hate to repeat the words powerful and emotional, but those really are the words that can't be avoided when you hear Dallas live. The set followed a familiar format, with band, by himself and then rejoined by his band of hometown friends. It is when he holds the stage alone that you get sucked into the performance, it's memorizing and intense. His performance of Like Knives (video I filmed below) was one of the highlights for me, he told us that it was one of the first songs he wrote and played it to his mother for her approval.



Between songs Dallas spoke to the crowd with his usual shyness and humanity (saying "it's not me up here and you down there, we're all here together"), yet he proved he has wit and humor to match many. (As he asked for the house lights to be turned on to see the venue and crowd someone yelled "I've got an erection!", only for Dallas to reply "Well it's taken 9 songs to find the funny guy in the audience".) There was one stage, just before Body In A Box, where he asked the crowd to put away their phones and cameras, just for one song. Not because he had a problem with people filming or taking pictures, but because he felt that everyone tries so hard to make memories on an event, they forget to enjoy the event as it happens. Very true. He then apologised for sounding like a Dad. His setlist was a perfect mix of some of his earliest songs to tracks of his new album, out in June. Although one of the surprises of the night was his cover of Adele's Hometown Glory (below). Covers are often overused, and just seem like they are performed for the sake of it. However this cover seemed perfect, Dallas even said he wish he had written the song himself, not just in terms of a match of incredible voices but you could feel Dallas sing the lyrics, though it not his own song.



The gig could have gone on and no one would have minded apart from the Albert Hall staff, though there are worse ways to be earn a living than watch Dallas, but it had to end at some point. Even in the encore Dallas surprised the crowd with his song choices. He turned the end of Comin' Home into James Blake's Wilhelm Scream, a nice touch. And he then sat down at a piano for the first time that evening and performed a "sort of cover", Happiness By The Kilowatt, by his other band Alexisonfire (below). It was a special moment to see him draw on a song he helped write so many years ago, for a band so different to his solo performance, to end a special night. It's hard not to love Dallas Green, he's talented, emotional, funny, shy and humble and puts on a wonderful night on a consistent basis it would seem. I simple can't wait for him to come back this autumn.