Some audience members at Bon Iver's Sunday sunrise show at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery arrived at midnight after a night on the town, while some sifted through the gates around 4AM, sipping coffee after a short sleep. At 5:30AM, a group of orange-cloaked Buddhist monks, who frontman Justin Vernon first encountered years ago on a visit through his Wisconsin college campus, emerged through the early morning fog blessing the audience from atop the cemetery's mausoleum.

"This has got to be the weirdest thing any of us has done," Vernon admitted from the adjacent stage, post-chant. He was right. A simple walk to the porta-potties during the band's set meant passing the cenotaph of Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone and the tomb of Hollywood actor Douglas Fairbanks, an almost mini-replica of the Lincoln Memorial. The concert was the first of its kind -- a departure from the usual show that starts at 8PM, which the cemetery has hosted from its Masonic Temple. This one would be held amongst the crypts and tombstones of the famous cemetery with Bon Iver providing a soundtrack to the Sept. 27 sunrise and perhaps even entertaining the famous Hollywood souls lying six feet under.

The soundtrack was short, ending just after 7AM, an hour after Vernon and co. kicked things off with the opener 'Lump Sum.' Even Vernon admitted he wished he came more prepared. You can't blame him -- Bon Iver have only one full-length album in their repertoire, their 2008 debut and year-end list favorite, 'For Emma, Forever Ago.' To entertain the sea of blankets covering the cemetery's southeast lawn prior to the 6AM set, the band curated a score of obscure songs to eco-friendly films like 'March of the Penguins,' 'Winged Migration' and the jungle chapter of the Discovery Channel documentary 'Planet Earth.' Somewhere sandwiched in there was a screening of the Wes Anderson classic 'Bottle Rocket' that showed on the mausoleum's giant exterior white wall.

During the set, held from a small stage separating the graveyard from the nearby Paramount Pictures lot, Vernon jumped between keyboards, electric and acoustic guitar, the latter he grabbed for 'Flume' and 'Skinny Love.' Each song started off delicate and beautiful, and with the help of the three-piece band, escalated to cymbal-crashing rock, showcasing the trademark build from the calm to the thunderous crescendo of a Bon Iver track. Megafaun, the opening road act helped unplug further, joining Bon Iver for an a cappella jug band track. Although the crowd did a pretty bad job of singing along on the closer 'Wolves,' despite Vernon taking the time to teach them the lyrics, he did manage to sum the evening up best: "This was a pretty weird idea, but it couldn't have gone any better."