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| Bon Iver - Photo by Stacy Schwartz |
Joseph Campbell dedicated his life to the study of world mythology, pulling together the connective threads of creation stories and tales of heroes. In these stories, he recognized the reflections of human hopes and desire, collective thought embedded into human existence. Thoughts of this were inescapable on a night that promised such a mixture of old and new music, brought to The Turf Club by Roma di Luna, Bon Iver and The Pines.
Tickets, once it was found out they were available on-line, disappeared in six minutes. The line to get in to the Turf went to the end of the block. This was no ordinary night in St. Paul.
Roma di Luna started off the night with their swirling mix of roadhouse blues and Gypsy (Roma) dance melodies. As written before on HowWasTheShow, Roma Di Luna’s lead singer Channy Moon Casselle has an ethereality to her voice that floats through the stories of dust and travel. The chorus of their unreleased “Trouble Down the Road” speaks convincingly to the efforts of creation, roaring out, “You won’t be the first to fail / and won’t be the first to fall / but you’ll be trouble down the road.” The growing crowd shook with the rollicking band that made music coming from deep roots but invigorated with promise.
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Roma di Luna - photo by Stacy Schwartz
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Vernon, it turns out, is a most unassuming hero. Tussled, in a plaid shirt with ink and grease on his fingers, he took the stage graciously, accompanied by Mike Noyce on baritone guitar and Sean Carey on drums. The packed-to-capacity club fell absolutely silent. The voice that Vernon found in the wilderness is a quavering falsetto that carries his poignant and poetic lyrics through staccato folk guitars, sharp percussive bursts and ambient reverberations.
Working through the entire disc, Vernon smiled and thanked the audience profusely as the crowd reciprocated with hushed community and joy. Opening with the CD’s first track, “Flume,” the first lyrics sung were, “I am my mother’s only son,” an appropriate beginning to any journey of self-definition. During the single “Skinny Love,” the crowd sang along with the “My my my”s while Vernon sang of loss and love promised to those who wait. The gathered were all brought in (quote: “By might join in, I mean for-fucking-sure we’ll do this part together”) to sing the second part of the chorus of “The Wolves Act I and II,” and they for-fucking-sure did as the guitars, loops and drums came to a bellowing crescendo that dropped off to catharsis.
Most of the crowd dissipated after Bon Iver and most of my time was then spent in conversation about change and revolution in the hunting lodge-like basement. When I did resurface for The Pines, they were playing an anti-war song that struck me as a meeting of Woody Guthrie’s Bob Dylan meeting Dylan’s current incarnation and asking for a protest song. Although earnest and gravelly, times have changed. In a later song, they ruminated that “It’s getting harder to tell if we’re going up or going down.” The question stands as to how we, our current heroes, change the times again.
Campbell once said, “Love is friendship set to music.” Ponder that, be patient, be kind. Fill your journey with live music.
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P.S. Bon Iver has just signed to Jagjaguwar Records. The re-issue of For Emma, Forever Ago is set for February 19.
Location Info:
The Turf Club
Artist Info: Bon Iver, Roma di Luna, The Pines
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