Bon Iver Announces Hiatus at San Francisco Gig

Posted on Sep 23rd 2009 10:00AM by Benjy Eisen
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When Bon Iver took the stage at the famed, original Fillmore in San Francisco on Tuesday night in front of a sold-out crowd, it represented a sort of homecoming. Yes, Justin Vernon is still a Wisconsin cabin boy who is in no danger of turning his back on his home territory. But he did share with the San Franciscan audience the thought that, a year earlier when he played one neighborhood over at the much smaller Independent, it was the first time that he felt like Bon Iver was really at home with an audience.

What a difference a year makes. Now on the other end of a long adventure that started when the album 'For Emma, Forever Ago' unexpectedly took off, Bon Iver sounds more polished and professional than ever before. "This is the last tour that we're doing with this thing, and after this we're going to take a break," Vernon told the audience. Thanking not just his fellow musicians onstage but also the entire crew and opening band, Megafaun, Vernon said, "I don't think we could ever do it again with anybody better."

While the band elaborated heavily on songs from 'For Emma, Forever Ago,' they also included the four songs from this year's EP, 'Blood Bank,' as well as a cover of Graham Nash's 'Simple Man.' As Vernon explained, "As a band, I think we've got 10 songs total, two records, so we try to spread it out."

No wonder then that the audience knew every word, a fact Vernon honed in on when he asked the audience to sing the refrain ("What might have been lost") on the last song of the set, 'The Wolves.' Naturally, all 1,200 fans obliged.