Bon Iver review: Musical masterclass from Justin Vernon and co in Dublin
Bon Iver at 3Arena, Dublin. Picture: Ruth Medjber
★★★★☆
Bon Iver’s sold-out Dublin show arrived almost 10 years to the day since he played the same venue – as the avant-garde folk artist otherwise known as Justin Vernon noted towards the end of this tectonically-thrilling concert. That 2012 gig had concluded with the exhausted Vernon announcing it was his last ever show as Bon Iver. After breaking through with his debut For Emma, Forever Ago, he had seemingly burnt out on acclaim, excess and friendship with Kanye West.
A decade on, Vernon no longer works with West – but nor has he retired from music. There have been times, though, when he has considered chucking in the towel. He revealed as much halfway through a performance which, with its blinking lights and lulling soundscapes had the quality of an alien landing unfolding at Dublin’s docklands.
“This is not a time warp,” he said (the concert having been put back owing to Covid). “We’re here now. We had a lot of time to think about whether we wanted to do this with our lives or not.”
Vernon has carved out a singular space as a musician whose popularity has grown while his output has become more doggedly uncommercial. For Emma was a straightforward plunge into Jeff Buckley-style dude-angst. But the music he has made since then has dismantled that formula and built it back up again into strange, defiantly minimalist new shapes.
His new set was a glorious exercise in shirking the mantle of indie superstar. The 'hits' from For Emma with which he forged his reputation were absent (notably favourite Skinny Love). But the purity of his intent heightened the spectacle rather than detracted from it. All that was missing was a cameo from Taylor Swift, with whom he duetted on her Folklore album.
Aesthetically as well as musically the evening was a masterclass. Vernon and his bandmates were arranged inside a sort of LED spider’s web, glass tangles of light cordoning off each musician in their own private space. The staging amped up the claustrophobia of songs such as opener iMi and the wintry Holocene – from his self-titled second album and the closest thing all night to a 'hit'.
This was pop as a slow spiral into angst and wonder. Vernon’s vocals were often processed through Cylon-esque effects so that when he finally did sing in his natural falsetto, it was like the sun coming up. The blizzard of electronics, piano, saxophone and piano that swirled around him was meanwhile both frosty and hypnotic. Ten years since he told Dublin he was about to walk away from it all, here was a comeback to savour.
