One of the summer’s most anticipated tours will stop in Lincoln when Bon Iver brings its highly acclaimed show to a likely-to-be-sold out Pinewood Bowl on Saturday.
The summer leg of the tour, which opened at New York City on June 3, has been getting rave reviews at each stop. Justin Vernon and his bandmates give an effectively staged performance that draws from albums “22 Million†and “I, I.â€
Those two albums, Bon Iver’s most recent, are electronic explorations, ala late-period Radiohead, that showcase Vernon’s poetic Bob Dylan- and John Prine-inspired lyrics and five-octave voice amid washes of sound and heavy bass.
That sound is, shall we say, quite a departure from 2007, when Vernon became Bon Iver after having isolated himself in a Wisconsin cabin where he recorded an album that he self-released.
One of the 500 copies of the recording made its way to the Old Kentucky Blog, then received a rave review from Pitchfork, and Bon Iver became an indie sensation.
Bon Iver’s self-titled second album won the best alternative album Grammy in 2012, and Bon Iver took the best new artist statuette that year as well.
After a four-year hiatus, Bon Iver returned with “22, A Million,†a dramatic departure from the stripped down indie-folk of the first two records and followed that up two years later with the electronic, experimental “I, I,†which received Grammy nominations for album of the year and records of the year.
Bon Iver could have played Pinewood in either 2020 or 2021. The venue had dates held for a Bon Iver show. As was the case with many artists, because of the pandemic, those tours did not happen.
Pinewood was able to lock in Saturday’s show last year and put tickets on sale in November. The show has sold more than 4,000 tickets, within a couple hundred of selling out the 4,500-capacity Pioneers Park amphitheater.
The remaining tickets for the 7 p.m. show that will be opened by Bonny Light Horseman are available at and on the Ticketmaster app.