Two-time Grammy award-winning group Bon Iver performed their unique blend of acoustic and processed music for the second night in a row at the Durham Performing Arts Center on Tuesday.
The performance was certainly engaging. It was not, however, just strictly entertainment — it was a soul-filling experience. This was not a concert for the audience to dance the night away, but it was one that made you feel like you were flying.
Bon Iver’s performance captured the down-to-earth, indie-folk sound of their first two albums, while also encompassing the electronic ambience and digitally-processed sound effects from their newest album, "22, A Million." The new album delves into the genre of indie folktronica and follows a path different from their roots.
The setlist consisted of many songs from "22, A Million," but also had a few older songs that the audience, full of longtime fans, immediately warmed up to and cheered on, such as "Holocene" and "Beach Baby."
“If there’s any music listeners out there who are too familiar with the key of C, I am sorry. It just works sometimes,” said Justin Vernon, the man behind Bon Iver.
Vernon, wearing a baseball cap and ATH-M50x headphones, mesmerized the audience with his experimental techniques. He sang in falsetto that was intertwined with an auto-tuned microphone, reminiscent of Kanye West’s iconic sound. He breaks and explores the boundaries between acoustic and processed music, and his fans are supportive as his sound transcends from where he made his start in the woods of Wisconsin several years ago.
“You know, it’s really important who your friends are, but it’s also really important how you are around strangers,” Vernon said.
He then urged the audience to pay attention to activist groups around them, specifically the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence in the hallway of the venue.
The audience sat for the entirety of the performance, with the exception of during the heart-wrenching and familiar encore, "Skinny Love."
