• Josh Bis
• Justin Vernon of Bon Iver at the Paramount

Last night I found myself at a pretty rad saxophone exhibition — this guy worked saxophones big and small, with entrancing circular breathing skills surely gained from a little deal with the devil, possibly with looping pedals, and occasionally as whisper-silent percussion — and then some guy from Wisconsin wandered onto the spotlight at the center Paramount's majestic stage and delighted the crowd with his anguished falsetto songs. Joking aside, though, the Bon Iver show was pretty solidly magnificent from start to finish and that woodwindist in the back of the now-sprawling band was unusually transfixing.

Fans who somehow hadn't managed to delve into this year's bon iver, bon iver may have been in for a surprise and found themselves wishing that they'd packed earplugs in the pockets of their plaid shirts. Where For Emma, Forever Ago relished quiet strumming and sparse orchestration, the new material (and new takes on the old hits) make it seem like Bon Iver leader Justin Vernon decided to spackle the pieces of his broken heart together and fill every empty space with as many different kinds of noise as he could find in the kitchen drawer. The performance's mini-acts were punctuated with wall-of-noise finales and instrumental solos (during one spotlighted violin interlude, I half-expected a voice announcing a large barge with a radio antenna tower on it). In addition to the between-song raptures and frequent standing ovations, the adoring crowd couldn't resist urges to hoot screams of adoration or encouragement during the show's few ultra-quiet moments ("re: stacks").

By my loose accounting, the band played most of the songs that they knew and, after a brief shout out to Obama's recent lunch at the venue, an acknowledgment about the difficulty of talking about politics even among friends, and a welcome endorsement of thinking threw in a Dylan cover ("With God on Our Side") for good measure. Other standouts included a smoky, red-lit rendition of "Blood Bank" and a growly version of "Creature Fear" that began with a slow trombone intro and finished with earsplitting instrumental feedback, strobes, and hypnostick lights in full effect. By the time the main set wound down to "Beth/rest" — a song that defies anything but a sincere response of either acceptance, adoration, or disapproval — it seemed like they'd used up all of the reverb, letting the vocals add a little edge to the throwback gloss. However much the rest of the show sounded like their new album, they ended with crowd-pleasers from their backwoods debut. "For Emma" closed the set and they returned for a victory lap of singsongs: first a stripped-down "Skinny Love" clap-along and then a big, full, interactive version of Act I and II of "The Wolves." Both justifiably brought the crowd to their feet.

You'll find few more snaps after the jump.