Bon Iver: US indie headliners kick off Town Hall Gigs

TOWN HALL GIGS

MUSIC: USA

US indie headliners kick off Festival’s Town Hall Gigs

A self-described ‘introspective, emotional country kid’ turned indie megastar hits the stage for the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival’s new programme of international music – the Town Hall Gigs.

Bon Iver’s first and only New Zealand performances in 2012 will be at the Festival. The Australian leg of this tour sold out in days – so Festival organisers are encouraging fans to book early.

In the winter of 2006, Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon was writing music alone in his father’s isolated Wisconsin cabin. The result, Bon Iver’s debut album For Emma, Forever Ago, tapped into the zeitgeist. Record sales, plaudits from music critics, and devoted fans followed in quick succession. Bon Iver went on to collaborate with artists from Volcano Choir to Kanye West.

Lilting between baritone and falsetto, Vernon’s extraordinary and unmistakable vocals are now the stuff of indie legend. The nine-piece band will traverse both intimate moments and boisterous orchestral choruses. Expect to hear tracks from both For Emma and his “ravishing follow-up” (NME) album Bon Iver. Vernon may have left his cabin in the woods but the new album remains true to his Wisconsin roots. Wrote The Guardian of Bon Iver: “Vernon’s focus has widened but his strange siren song is just as alluring.”

The 2012 Town Hall Gigs include music from Tinariwen (Mali), Barefoot Divas (New Zealand, Australia and international) with Walk A Mile In My Shoes, Bon Iver (USA), Sharon Shannon Big Band (Ireland) and Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Jazz Band (USA) with Cubano Be! Cubano Bop!

Bon Iver is at the Wellington Town Hall on 27 & 28 February for the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival, Wellington, 24 February – 18 March. Tickets $38 – $78 available from Ticketek.

ENDS

Sponsored by The Radio Network

© Scoop Media