Tuesday 29/07/08 Bon Iver @ Bowery Ballroom New York, NY

It would be fair to say that Bon Iver is in many ways, the man of the moment. From the ever-famous log cabin origins of ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ to album sales and tour dates worldwide, he’s seamlessly made the transition that other musicians long for.

Playing Bowery Ballroom, a venue that whether you’re from New York or not - always feels like a homecoming show. Justin Vernon a.k.a Bon Iver happily declared it the “best ****ing venue in the world” at the start of the show. With a three piece band behind him and an expectant crowd in front, he eased into the show with a beautiful vocal harmony at the beginning of ‘Lump Sum’. His best-known song, ‘Skinny Love’ was placed early in the set and one over-enthusiastic fan launched into the chorus a few seconds early queuing venue-wide laughter. Getting pitch perfect, choral-style harmonies throughout the show – for songs like ‘Flume’ they transform the track into something haunting and entirely different.

Each song performed received rapturous applause and with that in mind, midway through the set he tested out some new material; a song called ‘Blood Bank’ which followed in the same sonic vein as his current record. ‘The Wolves Act’ was one of the highlights of the show; requesting crowd participation to repeatedly sing the words, “What might have been lost” back to Iver in an ever-growing mass of intense noise. He repeatedly thanked the crowd and was clearly humbled by his reception.

The encore brought the final album song, ‘For Emma’ and a stunning acapella performance where he was joined by opening act Bowerbirds, to cover Sarah Siskind’s 'Lovin’s For Fools'.

Playing his heart out to a crowd that couldn’t get enough, Iver can play the “best ****ing venue in the world” as many times as he wants…New York will still come back for me.