It was a dreary and rainy wet day in Chicago this past Thursday. After an incident with a broken and collapsed umbrella, I was trudging completely drenched to a girlfriend’s apartment. We had a girl’s night out planned to check Bon Iver at the Lakeshore Theater.

Now I must admit that I was a bit late on discovering Mr. Justin Vernon’s quiet, melodic harmonies. It wasn’t until after my 39-year old brother name dropped Bon Iver following a showcase on NPR that I realized it was due time to pick up on this much blog-buzzed musician. I knew the basics at least; that Vernon ventured to Eau Claire, Wisconsin for some time to reflect following the split of his former band and the outcome of his hibernation was the recent debut release For Emma, Forever Ago. The record consists of nine beautiful, yet haunting melodies full of minimal percussion, soft guitars and gorgeous blending of falsetto.

So I must say that I wasn’t too surprised after the rough day my friend and I had shared to find out that we were not, in fact on the guest list to the first of two sold-out shows. As we shrugged it off to “just our luck,” we stepped out into the rainy streets to figure out where the nearest watering hole was to drown our sorrows. As we prepared to cross Broadway, however, we were flagged down by the same gentleman who had kindly turned us away not minutes prior. “You girls still want to see the show?” he panted, after running a half block in the rain (jacketless I may add). “Because someone just gave me two free tickets to give to whoever wanted to see the show.”

Coincidence? Some nice patron who saw me get rejected? Hell if I know, but my friend and I simply looked at each other, smiled, and headed back down the block to the theater, not sure what to expect. The kindness of strangers really had caught us off guard, to say the least.

I really had no idea what was in store for me. I knew I liked the album, I knew Bon Iver had quite the buzz; but did I have the slightest clue of how powerful his live performance was? No. Can I adequately give his performance much justice in this review? Probably not, but the experience was a memory maker.

I had never even seen a show at Lakeshore, so I didn’t even realize how powerful the acoustics there truly were. I wasn’t too sure if the opener, Josh Scott, was a comedian first or a musician, but he was pretty entertaining. He played a series of sweet and basic love songs on his guitar, while cracking jokes a plenty between tracks. His multiple references of Bon Iver’s mispronunciations had the crowd in laughs and his lullabyesque sing alongs kept the small, intimate crowd moderately entertained.

Once Vernon and his 2-member band took to the stage, the already hushed crowd fell even more silent. The sunset glow of the stage lighting set the ambience to an incredibly intimate ambience. Vernon opened up with album opener “Flume” and continued to play For Emma, Forever Ago, in its entire completion, in exact order. Vernon voiced his thankfulness to the audience and even requested a sing-along from the crowd for “The Wolves (Act I and II),” assuring the audience that “it was a dark room, you can’t see any faces.” Pretty powerful stuff.

I can honestly say that I’ve never witnessed a more gorgeous, intimate or melodic live performance before my night with Bon Iver and crew. It was the perfect closure to an otherwise upside down day, and not only were my friend and I finally smiling, but as soon as I exited the venue I discovered that the rain had finally stopped. I can’t help but think that the magic of the evening had something to do with that. For my friends in Madison, do yourselves a favor and make sure to check this show out Friday night at the Orpheum Stage Door with Collections of Colonies of Bees.

Previously: From The Crowd | Bon Iver – “Skinny Love”

MoB: 5 Questions with Bon Iver
MoB: Review: Madison Pop Fest
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Myspace: Bon Iver
MP3: Bon Iver – “Skinny Love”