Bon Iver @ Bowery Ballroom, NY, NY - Feb 22, 2008 (Jason Bergman)

Bon Iver @ Glasslands Gallery, Brooklyn, NY - Feb 23, 2008 (Tod Seelie)

Bon Iver just played 3 NYC shows. Black Mountain headlined two of them. BV mostly-metal contributor Black Bubblegum was at the Bowery show. Here's what he had to say...

I came there for Black Mountain... I can't lie. They were fantastic. Stephen McBean's guitar tone brought to mind Tony Iommi and Amber Webber did her best Grace Slick. They killed and so does "In The Future".

What surprised me was the stunning power of Bon Iver! Every ounce of greatness that "For Emma...." evokes was matched on the Bowery stage. The disheveled Justin Vernon had the ladies swaying and singing quietly, some holding cameras up to capture the whole set on video (links to those?). Vernon and his bandmates du jour were dead on. "The Wolves (Act I and II)" was easily the highlight, with a Mogwai-like crescendo as the crowd built upon the "what might have been lost" chorus. I have the digital version of "For Emma..." but I decided that I needed the vinyl.

NYC Taper recorded the Glasslands show. Check out some recent non-NYC Bon Iver videos below.....

Continue reading "Bon Iver & Black Mountain @ Glasslands & Bowery Ballroom "

Bon Iver @ The Electric Fetus (MN in-store) - Feb 13, 2008 (Staciaann)

Vernon used an array of guitars throughout the night, steel-string acoustics, a Telecaster, a Silvertone blues guitar. For "Skinny Love" he broke out the tarnished nickel National, a metal body guitar whose high, resonant tone recalls the reverberation of a crow cawing across a frozen sky. The sharpness of the chords and the sweetness of the lyrics pleading for love and patience come as distilled honesty, a quality that at once allows the music to be personal and communal. Audiences respect this power, their silence at a Bon Iver show is like a secret pact to feel together. [a review @ Reveille]

Bon Iver is playing a free show at Sound Fix in Brooklyn on Thursday February 21st. That's in addition to the shows he's playing with Black Mountain at Bowery Ballroom and Glasslands the two days after that.

Hownlin' Rain just finished a mini tour with Black Mountain, and they've since announced some dates of their own. That includes Mercury Lounge in NYC on April 2nd. Tickets are on sale. Is that Freedom Rock? Well, all Howlin' Rain tour dates below.....

Continue reading "Bon Iver adds 3rd NYC show, Howlin' Rain add one, dates"