#93 Bon Iver (Part I)

We first suggested this idea just like we use to, hoping it will work, because we loved the artist. We just suggested that Bon Iver could play a private show, a Pocket party in an apartment. We didn’t really know if we should believe in it until May, when Nora and I met Justin for an interview in a small backyard. At the end of it, we mentioned what was on our mind and he immediately told us that this is what he kinda dreams of, that his album is meant to be played in front of small crowds, and he’s looking forward to it.

We too, were looking forward to it, and God knows how hard it all has been. Rescheduling everything at the last minute, another gig in competition with ours, Canal + who stole our initial date. But when you have faith, you end under the porch of a building in Abbesses on a rainy monday with Justin, Sean, Mike and their tour manager, bonnets and gear, waiting for the caretaker to come back and give us the keys to the Buxes’ apartment.

We emptied the living room for the Pocket party, and we spent an hour or so wandering with Bon Iver, to think over the best way to play in the afternoon, and in the evening too, plain acoustic, without any amp. We brought them a melodica, a Glockenspiel; there was also little Ethel’s toy piano. Justin was talking about walking among the audience, occupying the space. Then, Vincent Moon arrived and we left him alone with the band, in the apartment. We had to go buy some beer.

What we can see in these first videos, and what we understood that evening, is how much Bon Iver is now a band. How much young Mike, Justin’s student, and Sean, who went to Justin after a show and offered to accompany him, are important in setting up the songs. Justin comes in counterpoint to Sean’s voice at the end of the first half of "Lump Sum", and Sean is the leader, even though he looks at Justin for approval and quickly hands over to him with a heady maelström.

However, before that, the first thing they tried to get going was voices only. After Sean had talked about Grizzly Bear’s Take away show, about "Knife" a cappella in the streets, Justin asked his two pals to try the same thing on "For Emma". A ritornello on two octaves for Sean and Mike, snapping for the rhythm, that would be just enough...

Time does fly : thirty people were already waiting in the courtyard when we went back from our little shoppinga. We couldn’t make them come up; we were not ready : Moon and Bon Iver were still shooting "For Emma" in Ethel’s bedroom. In the end, it’s the band who came to them... The three guys just popped without us expecting and started singing this newborn version of "For Emma". A divine surprise. The band was already gone in the streets but we were still flabbergasted. We had to make the audience come up, prepare the show. But this is another story... And other videos...