Right now, the Canadian oil company Enbridge is proposing Line 3, a massive pipeline expansion to take tar-sand oil from Alberta to Wisconsin. This pipeline would cut across Minnesota, and it could cause environmental devastation and cold violate treaty rights of Anishinaabe peoples and nations. Naturally, a whole lot of people in Minnesota would love to stop this pipeline from being built. Last night in Duluth, as part of a Stop Line 3 benefit, Bon Iver played their first show since the pandemic began last year.

At Duluth’s Bayfront Festival Park, Bon Iver headlined the Water Is Life festival, which raised money for Winona LaDuke’s Honor The Earth organization and which also featured a Minnesota-centric bill of artists like Hippo Campus, Lissie, Adia Victoria, and Low’s Alan Sparhawk. Talking to the Star Tribune before the show, Justin Vernon said that he was looking at ways for Bon Iver to reduce their carbon footprint while playing shows, and that the band would show up to Duluth in one car, with no crew and no sound people, hoping to create “renegade, howl-at-the-moon, urgent musical energy.” (When asked if there were any plans for a new Bon Iver album, Vernon said, “Absolutely none!”)

At the show, Bon Iver played an eight-song set that included older tracks like “Flume,” “Blood Bank,” and “Creature Fear,” as well as covers of Leon Russell’s “A Song For You” and Bob Dylan’s “With God On Our Side.” Check out some videos and photos from the show below.

Here’s last night’s setlist, according to one Reddit user:

01 “Flume”
02 “666 ʇ”
03 “Blood Bank”
04 “29 #Strafford APTS”
05 “A Song For You” (Leon Russell cover)
06 “00000 Million”
07 “Creature Fear”
08 “With God On Our Side” (Bob Dylan cover)

You can find out more about the effort against Line 3 here.