Bon Iver: Destroying private beauty
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
Saw Bon Iver play last night at the Troubadour for the first of two sold out dates. Haven’t been at the Troubadour since last May when I saw Destroyer play.
Anyone who has listened to Bon Iver’s release For Emma Forever Ago must agree that the beauty of listening to the quiet elegance of this music lies in the moments of hesitant pauses and rising falsetto that dissipates into thin, fractured air. Well, toss that onto the scrap heap when the songs are performed live. I understand that translating ones music onto a large venue requires changes and allows the performer to crack open structures and explore avenues of expression. Just why did it get turned into a pummeling from the drums? This happened with Destroyer’s show and last night it happened again…oh, wait a minute, could it be the person running the sound board? Perhaps. Yet if I were on stage and noticed this, I would seek to correct it. Oh well, there’s always the Fleet Foxes show to look forward to.