While most musicians have been clamoring to perform again in 2021, Justin Vernon has mixed feelings about returning to the road.
That uncertainty is partly what led the Grammy-winning Wisconsin song man to jump at the chance to play Bon Iver's first post-quarantine show Wednesday in Duluth.
"There's no going back to the old normal," Vernon said last week.
Answering questions via e-mail ahead of the Water Is Life Festival at Bayfront Festival Park — a benefit for Winona LaDuke's environmental organization, Honor the Earth, and a protest of Enbridge's Line 3 oil pipeline — Vernon explained how the concert's purpose and close-to-home location meshes with his new outlook on touring.
In short: He's going to be a lot more selective about when and how he books Bon Iver gigs.
"I think everybody had the time to ponder larger questions in the last year and half," Vernon said. "I finally settled on the fact that touring is important to me, but also exactly how much it can be important.
"We're so lucky to do it. But just because you're lucky and fortunate doesn't mean you deserve to do anything you want anytime you want. We are implementing systems to calculate our carbon footprint and be much more eco-conscious. We don't need to cross an ocean more than once in a year, for instance."
Vernon and his full Bon Iver crew will cross the ocean in November to play some postponed European dates, but unlike those shows he is keeping the Water Is Life gig simple.