An all-seated affair, hastily rearranged at the last minute from Crawdaddy to Tripod. An announcement before the main act arrives on stage, warning us not to make any undue noise during the show.
This did not bode well. Were we to be the audience for a prickly performance? Just as well then that this was instantly dispelled once Bon Iver took the stage.
The music, while delicate and finely poised on disc, takes new life once performed. Every pause, every euphoric rise has extra weight and balance to it. The time flew by, little patience required, with "Skinny Love" played shortly in. An unexpected sing-along to the beautiful "The Wolves" here, another song, a trip down memory lane to his time in Galway selling mobile phones on Eyre Square there. Soon, he was apologising. After 5 months on tour, they hadn't the time to practice more. He only had 3 more songs to go. They wanted to keep playing. The crowd, sitting on the edge of their seats, um-hum-ed and nodded in approval. The album, promising so much, the performance delivering it and some. A standing ovation at the end. There was to be no encore. But of course, we wanted more.
"What might have been lost..."
