Whilst I would ramble on about the ten miles of fake hipsters who were roaming MacHall and the stoner guy who stood in front of us and whipped around every time I put my hand in my purse because he thought I was going to offer him some MJ, I think MG will probably have a more magical story to tell...she did, no lie, fly all the way from Halifax to see this show.
I will say the highlight of my night was Beth/Rest, which MG calls ‘that weird 80s porno sounding song’…cause clearly it is her least fave. Take it away MG. Don’t bore them with sexual fantasies that involve Justin Vernon singing you to sleep. XOXO Jes...
I finally got to experience Bon Iver. To say it was a long time coming is an understatement. And to not admit that I was actually having stomach pains from excitement for the past couple weeks would be basically lying to your face.
So there I was, after months of anticipation - and a full day of not eating since I was worried I would yak - it was finally time.
The opener was a lovely lady group from the UK, The Staves. They were awesome, and such a great compliment for Justin and the boys. Folky and adorably new to Canada. At the beginning of their set they were drinking beer, and the lead singer says “I don’t know what I’m drinking ... cocaine? Co-can-e? Oh! Kokanee!” Just sweet.
But I had bigger things on my mind during their banter - like trying to figure out how I was going to navigate my way through the most epic moment of my life (BON IVER!) without completely losing my mind and having to get carried out of MacHall on a stretcher (we did see a girl get carried out by her friends. My money is more on drugs and alcohol than a euphoric mental breakdown, though).
It only got better from there. Creature Fear, Re:Stacks, For Emma (unreal acoustic! still dying inside a little from this one), Towers, Holocene, etc. They covered it all.
Both Jes and I (and probably everyone else in the place) were curious what he would say before he played Calgary. It’s his first time in the city, and pretty much since the song has been released everyone has thought ‘WTF, how does he know this city exists?‘ And luckily he gave us the backgrounder, or else Jes probably would have rushed the stage and started screaming ‘WE WANT ANSWERS!’ (Side note: Yes, yes I would have.)
Turns out about ten years ago, after dropping out of college, he was traveling in Ireland and met a guy from Calgary named Paul. Although they don’t see each other often, they’re still close friends and so he wrote the song for him. Someone from this city is doing it right.
MG
For more of MG's musical tastes check out her Pick of the Week posts here.
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