Patricia Does Music: Bon Iver and Fruit Bats

I love music, but I typically am not a show-goer. Especially when the sound quality would be better at home, where I can sit down on my bed while I listen rather than stand up for hours in a crowded room. But there are certain shows that just demand I see in person, and recently I experienced two of those: Bon Iver and the Fruit Bats.

I went to see Bon Iver a couple years back in Orlando, and it was almost a spiritual experience. So I was pretty pumped for this one at the 9.30. His whole set was pretty awesome. A favorite moment included when he played "re:Stacks" on a bare stage. Just his voice and his guitar. He has this ability to make a large space feel incredibly intimate. His voice filled the immensity of that space. And he sings in a register not many can access, let alone bask in. The last song of the set (not including the inevitable encore) was the last track on his new album, "Beth/Rest." It was, in two words, incredibly epic. It has this pounding 80's love-ballad feel to it with a dramatic saxophone solo straight from a Michael Bolton special and then smooths into this beautiful number, like a slow descent in Bon Iver. It felt like he let us into an inner circle. Almost like he was doing us a personal favor to play. NPR was actually there recording. So if you feel like you want to (re)live the magic, go here.

The Fruit Bats have been a favorite of mine since 2004 when their song, "When U Love Somebody," saved my life. I had seen them once at Kilby Court in Salt Lake, and Eric Johnson, the lead singer, was just lovely. Seeing him again at the Black Cat (with Vetvier) was a real treat. We got there super early (thanks to the fact that both Danielle Mathis and I are pathologically on time), so we had plenty of time to make sure that we were front row and center.

Danielle's cousin (the delightful Shelby) made me go up to talk to him. I blubbered out something unrecognizable and then asked a band member to take our picture (I tried to get a picture with that guy to make him feel better, but it ended awkwardly when he didn't know what I was saying). 

A little pre-show, we're-here-way-too-early pizza. They got offended when we dabbed the slices with napkins, but there was enough grease on those things to start a forrest fire. 

I grabbed a set list when they were done. This wasn't the order they played for our show, but they covered basically the same terrain. Favorites were "Singing Joy the World" (which he sang by himself), "Dolly," and "You're too Weird" (listed as YTW in the playlist). His music can be fun and danceable (i.e. "Ruminant Band" and "When U Love Somebody") but also slower and melancholic (i.e. "Seaweed" and "Lazy Eye" both off of Mouthfuls). 

Okay so this member of Vetvier TOTALLY looks like the annoying but endearing Brian Krakow from My So-Called Life! You can't really tell in this pictures. But believe me. It made me feel like we were already best friends. You know, the kind of best friendship that you develop with fictional characters.

And then there was the drummer for the Fruit Bats who looks exactly like Johnny Depp in Secret Window. But apparently, if you tell him so, he just rolls his eyes (as Shelby found out). Hey buddy, if you don't want to look like Johnny Depp then don't stop showering, grow your hair out, have a scraggly beard, and look exactly Johnny Depp.