Bon Iver – Serpentine Sessions @ Hyde Park, London 30/06/09

-
Photographs by Annah Legg

So you’re having a bunch of shows in Hyde Park, during the (brief) height of the Great British summer, and what do you do? Why stick it in a tent, of course. Granted, everyone would be eternally grateful if, true to form, it was pissing it down tonight, but it’s not and it seems a damn shame having to shuffle inside a big old circus tent when it’s so nice lazing around outside on the grass. Which may explain why there’s a fairly small crowd for folk-tress Alela Diane, tonight’s main support act. Those who did head inside were rewarded though, as she delivered a warm, glowing rendition of highlights from her debut To Be Still. With her dad on mandolin duties, and a full band, she pulled of a gloriously golden sound that rivalled soaking up the sun outside.

The tent did, of course, fill up though, as Bon Iver took to the stage around 8:45pm. Opening with a long, anticipation-building intro to ‘Lump Sum’, it was a fairly low-key beginning to the proceedings, even by his low-key standards. But after he’d eased in gently he whipped out that battered old steel guitar and smacked the audience round the face, dropping what must’ve been the track most them bought their ticket for – the trademark ‘Skinny Love’. It wasn’t wasted early on in the set though, but set a very very high bar for the rest of the show, which Bon Iver cleared easily. And, of course, it was bloody beautiful. There was a rare outing for’ Brackett, W9’, featured on the Dark Was The Night compilation. The warm, fuzzy guitar sounds combined with swelling vocals were lovely to hear live, and then progressed surprisingly well into ‘Blood Bank’, as though the two songs were brothers.

Generally a man of few but always kind a humble worlds, Justin said the past two years had been ‘indescribable’, so he therefore wasn’t going to attempt to describe it. A solo ‘Re:Stacks’ was definitely one of the most heartbreaking moments of the evening, with an entire tent brought to it’s knees by the beautiful rubato delivery on the chorus. ‘Babies’, from the Blood Bank EP was also surprisingly epic, building towards a huge, all-encompassing final chorus. Ending on the warm, amiable tones of ‘For Emma’, the band leave stroll off the stage to rapturous applause. It seems they’re picked up a few bad rock and roll habits, as there’s more than a pregnant pause before they return. Covering the classic Jayhawks track, ‘Tampa to Tulsa’, Mike Noyce takes over vocal duties, and it’s a full and accomplished voice that comes from this delicate, still-wet-behind-the-ears slip of a boy. ‘Creature Fear’ sends the audience off into the (still light) park, with huge reverberating drums sounds and a final cacophony of sounds, giving this track a new lease of life.

This show is yet another dollop of icing on the Bon Iver cake. Consistently good, consistently challenging, consistently pushing themselves - they truly are an audience’s bands, and they certainly knocked this show out of the park.