If you watched Bon Iver’s performance on the Channing Dude-Bro Tatum-hosted SNL last night, you saw that Justin Vernon sang into not one, but two microphones. Since you’re surely wondering how this came to be, UPROXX had exclusive access to the conversation that took place between Bon Iver’s management and the SNL stage manager last week prior to the taping. It should shed some light on it for you.
SNL stage manager: So let me go through the checklist here with you. We’re going to have 5 cameras set up, 4 of which will be focused in the direction of the microphone and..
Bon Iver’s manager: Wait, wait, wait. Did I hear you say “microphone,” as in a singular microphone?
SNL stage manager: Yes, is that a problem?
Bon Iver’s manager: Um, YEAH! Hello, this is BON-F*CKING IVER we’re talking about, not that awful fraud Lana Del Rey. The full range of Justin Vernon’s anguished falsetto cannot be captured by a single microphone.
SNL stage manager: Well, most of our musical guests only require a single mic. I’ll see what I can do.
Bon Iver’s manager: Yeah, well you better. Or Bon Iver will tell you to f*ck off just like the Grammys were told to f*ck off. And you might get your a$s kicked. Bon Iver works out, you know.
And so it came to be that Justin Vernon crooned into two mics last night. That’s EXACTLY how it all went down.
Here’s “Beth/Rest”…
And here’s “Holocene”…
And via commenter Hokie Wartooth, we can see that Tom Brady is a huge Bon Iver fan, so the weekend wasn’t a total loss for him.