Bon Iver - Holocene (Performance at Jimmy Fallon Live)

So this year I only watched the Grammys to see if Bon Iver won best new artiste. He won… I jumped all over the house screaming. Don’t get me wrong I love J. Cole and all the other nominees (except Nicki) but this man and his music changed my life. This song specifically - Holocene was my absolutely favourite performance. I wrote about it for my college supplement to Columbia University, enjoy :). 

Here’s an extract:

The day was moving slowly, it was humid, summer and I was bored - so I executed the action any bored to tears adolescent would (with internet) at a time like this; I went on YouTube. There I came across a performance that would ultimately change the way I approached music and dare I say life in general. It was Bon Iver’s performance of my favourite Indie song, ‘Holocene’.

As the sombre guitar proceeded to strum and the melody of the song began to whir in the background Justin Vernon started to sing, “Someway, baby, it’s part of me, apart from me”. It was then I felt something awesome coming from the depths of my gut, tickling me yet permeating my entire being. The lyrics and his voice melded with the instrumentals so well that I could not even distinguish Vernon’s singing from the overall tune of the song.

And as the camera zoomed in and out relative to the audience members, the bass dropped and Vernon sang “and at once I knew I was not magnificent”. I could see tears in individuals’ eyes and believe me I was close to tears as well.  It reminded me of a run I made to the top of a hill with a friend of mine. You make it to the top and look down and experience a beautiful vista, making you feel tiny in comparison. I gained an appreciation of the magnificence of Earth and my insignificance relative to it. “I can see for miles, miles, miles”, that was the meaning I found in this performance, the true acknowledgement of my smallness compared to the grandeur of the world around me.

<3 <3

Best New Artiste…the category The grammys never get wrong.