Bon Iver Welcomes Bruce Hornsby In Washington D.C.

Bon Iver teamed with longtime friend and collaborator Bruce Hornsby on Thursday night at The Anthem in Washington D.C. The acclaimed pianist performed on a Bonnie Raitt cover and returned later in the evening for a Bon Iver original.

Last night was the group’s first of two performances at The Anthem, one of the few non-arenas on their tour in support of i,i. Bon Iver kicked off their main set with four tunes from i,i before reaching back to 2007’s For Emma, Forever Ago for “Lump Sum” and 2006’s 22, A Million for “666 ʇ.”

Hornsby first emerged after a string of four additional tunes from i,i that included his own composition, “U (Man Like),” to lend a hand on Raitt’s 1991 hit “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” Bruce performed on Bonnie’s original version and sat-in with Bon Iver mastermind Justin Vernon for a take on the song during a 2017 concert in Richmond. Vernon explained that while Bruce wrote “U (Man Like),” Bon Iver plays a different version than the original so they couldn’t play it with Hornsby when he turned up at Thursday’s show.

Hornsby was among the contributors to i,i while Vernon added to Bruce’s 2019 album, Absolute Zero. Bon Iver followed Hornsby’s guest spot with classics “Perth” and “Towers.” It was then back to i,i for “Hey, Ma.” Bruce Hornsby returned a few songs later to perform “Salem” with the group ahead of Justin Vernon’s solo rendition of “re: Stacks.” The band came back out for a set-closing run of “Holocene,” “Sh’Diah” and “Naaem.” Bon Iver then ended the evening with a three-song encore featuring “715 – CREEKS,” “Blood Bank” and “RABi.”

Watch fan-shot video captured by Katie Houser of last night’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” below:

Setlist