Bon Iver : At Sunrise - 9/27/09

Last Sunday morning as the summer had fell to fall, a puff of fog from a magic dragon named Bon Iver had descended to a field of dreams along with several hundred privileged fans, imposing over the house of the hippest place to die, The Hollywood Forever Cemetary. In getting ready for the slumber party, there was no sleeping bag necessary. After all...what's a good sleepover accompanied by a shut eye. Especially when live entertainment includes a mix of Wes Anderson's "Bottle Rocket", two carefully folked up playlists of new and old storytellers, a series of moving images of the "Planet Earth", blessings from Buddhist monks and of course, breakfast of champions with a 70 minute live performance of everything recorded by the curator as the sky changed light. I could review this unique experience for you but i'd rather share it through its sights and sounds.

Full Gallery of pictures - FoundTrack Facebook Album

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Bon Iver - Live at the Hollywood Forever Cemetary - 9/27/09

If you want more professional journalism and pictures, please check out the LA Weekly review featuring incredible shots from our ballin' shot Colin Young-Wolff. Special thanks to friends Jenny and Seth for welcoming me into their prime plot of land.

Unfortunately, quite possibly my one shining moment of amateur bootleg concert videography of the last song was accidentally formatted/lost in space. Meanwhile, enjoy the video below taken at Bon Iver's outside lands performance in 2008. I know it's far from a close-up but there's a pretty lesson to be learned at the 2:40 mark for anyone that's interested in seizing the day.

Highlights from SF's Outside Lands Festival

So much to say and so little time. I thought i'd share some coverage and a few notable performances.



1) The Felice Brothers
Despite one of the smallest crowds at the festival i felt that every one of us their were convinced that the Felice Brothers put on one of the better shows we'd seen all weekend. These guys just have a great time on stage, especially the drummer Simone, who got up from his seat to sing vocals for a few tracks. Def'ly lived up to my own high expectations from one of my favorite acts of the year.

2)Radiohead's Electrical Light Parade
Despite production mishaps causing their entire sound to get cut off in the middle of two songs, Radiohead came out to play and although i was too far away to even see the band, the stage was all i needed. It was as if 50,000 people had gathered around the biggest LCD screen to watch the coolest screensaver plug in set to one of the best bands of our time. Check out this video and my picasa album to see what i mean.

Radiohead - The National Anthem




3)Tom Petty
Sound problems for the second consecutive night had forced Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to take a 5 minute break. It became a blessing as he ran into his pal Steve Winwood backstage and invited him to support the band for a few songs when they would return, including a cover of the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'. Favorites from Tom Petty's set included "Learning to Fly" and their cover of the Traveling Wilbury's "End of the Line".

4)Bon Iver
Moving to a remote cabin in Northwestern Wisconsin to record his debut full length, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver couldn't have asked for a better setting than SF's Golden Gate Park. Getting the crowd to chant "What Might Have Been Lost" in "The Wolves" was proof that he had captured us all. Here's a video of my personal fave.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love


If you'd like to see some incredible professional shots from all the bands who performed over the weekend, go to the Outside Lands Photo Gallery on their website.