My music tastes vary. Depending which side of the bed I wake up on (it seems like there are a whole lot more than two), I’ll be into electric or country or classic rock or rap or a dozen other genres. But what I’m the most passionate about, and what I’ve been the most passionate about for years, is folk. Something about soft string-based acoustics with honest vocals just speaks to me. So you could imagine my delight when I heard Bon Iver was coming to LA. And you could imagine my delight when I realized the venue he was playing at – the Shrine – was less than a mile from where I live at USC. The Shrine is an amazing concert/exposition hall that attracts a fair amount of high profile entertainment (you can read more about it here.) Particularly popular among students is the electric dance music show known as Hard Haunted which happens every year at the end of October.
Justin Vernon (lead) of Bon Iver, playing at the Shrine.
Bon Iver was excellent live. It’s difficult to tell from most of their tracks, but the band is composed of about 8 people and about as many instruments; surprisingly among them a trombone and saxophone. Most of the tracks they played were off their new self-titled album, Bon Iver, which I could not recommend highly enough (you can check out a few of the tracks on their myspace page – I particularly suggest Blood Bank.) In between songs a member would solo-jam with their instrument; the saxophone solo knocked my idiomatic socks off. Their performance was lively, reflective, and unforgettable. I hope to see them live again some day!
