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After nearly a decade, Bon Iver’s Eaux Claires music festival returns to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, this year, rekindling an intersection of art, music and nature in the state’s scenic Northwoods area.
Co-curated by Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron Dessner, the festival is a hallmark of collaboration and community in the state’s Chippewa valley, with a lineup this year that includes performances by Vernon and Dessner as well as Aimee Mann, Dijon and Fred Again. This year brings a new location of Carson Park. “Central Park in New York and Carson Park are the top two parks that I know about,” Vernon told locals this spring. “So we’re lucky.”
After Kevin Morby pulled out of the festival this week as he and Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee welcomed their first child, he was replaced by an artist billed as “Bon”. It didn’t take much to work out that it was likely to be Vernon, who tonight arrives to the baseball field stage just before 7pm for a solo acoustic set that opens with a cover of Morby’s Die Young.
Vernon’s performance pivots into a fleeting journey through Bon Iver’s discography, weaving in the fragile beauty of Re:stacks from 2007 debut For Emma, Forever Ago alongside the gentle drifts of Beach Baby. As the sky turns golden, a stripped-back rendition of Speyside from last year’s Sable, Fable album casts a spell over Carson Park, cutting through the festival noise with its vulnerability. It’s a home run performance that leaves tears in the eyes of many lifelong Eau Claire residents and longtime Bon Iver fans alike.
After a rangy collaborative set from Aaron Dessner and Fred Again, Vernon returns to the stage at 9pm as “Bon Dylan”, a celebration of Bob Dylan’s expansive career in storytelling. With Vernon now sporting a polka-dot shirt and wide-brimmed hat in a nod to Dylan, the folk legend’s catalogue is brought to life by a band of Vernon’s midwest collaborators in a set that ranges from beloved classics like 1963’s Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right and Blood on the Tracks’ Tangled Up in Blue to fan favorites like 1997’s Not Dark Yet.
The performance is anchored by Vernon adopting Dylan’s raw, nasal folk style as well as the artist’s ethos of humility amid his fellow companions on stage. Many of Vernon’s band also sport their own “Dylan” hats – leaving you to wonder who Vernon will welcome to the spotlight next.
JT Bates (who played on Taylor Swift’s Folklore) provides a steady, heartbeat-like rhythm on the drums, while Bon Iver band member Ben Lester contributes his own distinct improvisations on the pedal steel guitar. JP Brooks and Courtland Pickens of the Minneapolis choir Known MPLS take the spotlight with standout solos during Dylan’s 1981 Shot of Love, while Phil Cook absolutely shreds on the harmonica.
Longtime collaborator and Bon Iver percussionist S Carey – lightheartedly reimagined as “Sean Iver” for the evening – takes the mic to deliver renditions of Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You alongside Lay Lady Lay, two classics originating from the Nashville Skyline era. Meanwhile, Wisconsin songwriter Monica Martin guests on a beautiful duet of Boots of Spanish Leather with Vernon.
Vernon and his band wrap up the night with an encore of Dylan’s timeless Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. During what quickly becomes a thousands-strong singalong, the Bon Iver frontman’s face lights up with a big grin as he gazes out at the crowd. Whether you have come to Eaux Claires solely for Bon or by the allure of the Bon Dylan set, Carson Park is transformed into a field of dreams tonight, where collective collaboration outshines the individual fame of one.
English (US) ·