Aware Super Theatre, Sydney
Friday February 17, 2023
Reviewer: Kevin Bull
Photographer: Jordan Munns
When discussing music at the Old Pub in Woy Woy, you don’t expect Bon Iver to be pitched to you. The Old Pub is a classic rock, VB drinking establishment where Cooper’s Green is the up-market beer on tap and each Saturday night you get to hear some cover band play ‘La Grange’ again. You are not going to hear Bon Iver amongst the never-ending scroll of decades old, nostalgia inducing videos that play on repeat above the pool table and out on the deck.
But if it wasn’t for young Jared asking me if I had heard of Bon Iver a month back, I wouldn’t be here tonight catching their first Sydney date at the Aware Super Theatre.
My introduction to Bon Iver was with For Emma, Forever Ago. I listened to this a lot back in the late 2000’s, and I really did like ‘Skinny Love’. When I needed something soft, tender, aching, that album fitted it perfectly. I picked up on 2011’s self titled, enjoying the new instrumentation and textures but I certainly didn’t listen to it like I did Emma.
On the morning of the show I listened to all four album, newest to oldest, and quickly realised that I am not familiar with most of what will be played live tonight. Nothing from i,i and 22, A Million jogged any memory of having heard it before. This is going to be a show that will be very different to their 2009 Australian tour.
Casually walking on stage, vocalist Justin Vernon armed with an acoustic apologises for the delay to the night caused by a faulty keyboard. “The backup of the backup of the back went down”, he explains while easing us into the opener that could easily be off For Emma, Forever Ago. Just acoustic and sax filling the theatre. We were taking in ‘Speyside’, a new song that has been making appearances live since late 2022, and just may be giving us an insight of what new releases may sound like.
The simple and effective spot lighting used in that first song gave no indication as to just how wonderful the lighting would be over the course of the night. One of the first notes written down while watching was “super impressive lighting”, it visually lifted and enhanced what was happening on stage. The stage is now full of band members, with two percussionists and too many keyboards to count, each on their own platforms. We begin a song that is clearly a later release (666 ʇ), and is now utilising this amazing 6 piece to its fullest. It’s rich and textured, rhythmic with treated vocals, a sound that’s sitting at ease with the acoustic opener.
Over the course of the night, you felt the dynamics move easily. From building from near silence to a band at full roar (‘Perth’), to a stark, dissonant collage that hushes the venue (‘Jelmore’), and the treated a cappella (‘715 Creeks’) leading into a mid-tempo near-singalong (‘Hey, Ma’), it all appeared quite natural and organic, moving you along with a flow that was just right.
There was big love for ‘Skinny Love’, but not to the extent that the following received. Under just a few spots, Justin held us in complete silence with his acoustic and highly emotive falsetto (‘re: Stacks’). “Your love will be safe with me” he whispers to us, to which we roared with approval.
It is a night that I’m thoroughly please to have seen. It was quite beautiful, music that fills your soul with all things good.
