Black Mountain and Bon Iver at Lee’s Palace; Wednesday March 5, 2007

Black Mountain and Bon Iver at Lee’s Palace; Wednesday March 5, 2007

Firstly, I had no idea that either Black Mountain or Bon Iver were this big, or at least big enough to easily sell out Lee’s. They did just that well before the show’s actual date, which is completely impressive. This show was all over the place musically, not consistent but it worked. Openers were called Quest For Fire a band that sounded a ton like Nirvana, vocal wise. I was incredibly close to the stage so that always contributes to the loud, fuzzy sound that I might have got instead. Quest For Fire sounded like they should have come from the early nineties, sporting a heavy grunge sound, with a ‘70s style twist. This twist is the brilliant work of the lead guitarist who somehow managed to have a solo riff in each song without sticky out too much. To my great surprise this band is from Toronto and are comprised of two ex-Deadly Snakes members and a present member of cursed. Quest For Fire’s music lingers a bit, as a result of repetitive guitars and overly exaggerated slow vocals. I liked their set, I’d definitely see them again. BOOOOOON IVERRRRRR. His one and only album out titled ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ is my favourite of the year thus far. It’s incredibly well crafted in the sense that it has a great balance of songs in the style that they are played in. Also, this album is so bare but writer/singer Justin Vernon manages to create swells that a full band can’t always do. It’s really nice to hear something new and ambitious. Justin Vernon popped on stage very nonchalantly. Bon Iver is comprised of three players, two guitars and a percussionist, they do so much with so little it’s really mind blowing. The second guitarist looked fifteen! He was drinking so I guess not. Anyhow, the set was incredible. His set was his entire album leaving out the last song titled “Re: Stacks”. Interesting choice, but I’m sure most people didn’t notice, I didn’t until now. He played “Flume” first. This song is much more powerful live, as his guitarist did a slide bit while he sang the verse, this wasn’t even apparent on the album!! The tune “Lump Sum” was done really well, it’s definitely the most upbeat tune off ‘For Emma’. The beginning is this super powerful harmonized humming to bring in the song, he does it a lot through his tunes, but “Lump Sum” was the only time he did it in the live show. I was really shocked the he played “Skinny Love” third, because it’s easily his biggest, most accessible tune. He busted out this beautiful steel guitar, I have no idea what it’s called but it has a really nice hollow, almost metal sound to it. Just as he started to play someone yelled “Skinny Looooooooooovee”, my heart kind of dropped, good feeling… This was one of the more powerful songs he played, just because of the bridge where he screams “I told you to be patient… I told you to be kind…”. “The Wolves (Act I and II)” is a really anthem sort song, which is brilliant, the whole bit: “What might have been lost…”. No one really knew his material so there wasn’t anything impressive on that level. The bridge of this tune was impressive where he just screams like crazy. “Blindsided” was the tune that the band rocked out on the most, which is kind of ironic because it’s one of the quieter songs. The drummer nearing the end of the song just went nuts. They all performed sitting but I could tell at the super swells of the songs the just exploded and each one of them would kind of rise out of their seats a bit in anticipation. To my great surprise they played “CREATURE FEAR” my favourite song off the album. On the album it’s ridiculously intense. The beginning starts with some “oooh” action, which sadly wasn’t duplicated in the live show. Instead he played a guitar riff that mimicked it, more or less. At around the 1:20 second part of the song he pauses just before the chorus and then there’s this absence of music and he immediately launches into the “sooo many…” this void of music wasn’t in the live show… I was really unimpressed with this tune live. They did play an improvisation of the tune “Team”. “Team” is basically an instrumental bit at the end of “Creature Fear” on the album, I have no idea why they didn’t just blend it into one track, would’ve made more sense. The last song they played is called “For Emma”, a tune that uses a trumpet throughout which sadly wasn’t used. I’m still pretty surprised they played it sequentially, bold move.I did catch a bit of Black Mountain between Sonic Boom and going home. It was really sweaty, I didn’t feel like staying. I caught two songs, from hearing only a few actual tunes, I really like them. They have a super ‘70s vibe to them which sounds fabulous live. I wasn’t really sure how they’d work the female vocalist in but she fit so well. Great live sound. 10/10 show, best of the year by far.

March 6, 2008