Gig review: Bon Iver at First Direct Arena, Leeds

At some point during tonight's 100-minute set comes the realisation that Bon Iver might be wheeling out some of the most adventurous, at times actively challenging sounds ever to be unleashed from the stage of Leeds Arena.

The fact that Justin Vernon (the Wisconsin-born singer and songwriter who trades as Bon Iver) has managed to expand his appeal to arena-sized proportions while venturing several galaxies away from his indie folk roots is truly remarkable.

The stark solo acoustic heartbreak of 2008's genre landmark For Emma, Forever Ago suggested that the forlorn songwriter was communing to us from an off-the-grid wood cabin. Several stylistic realignments and collaborations with the likes of Taylor Swift, Kanye West and James Blake later, the sleek and shimmery high-tech textures of Bon Iver's most recent album, 2019's i, i (which dominates the setlist with nine selections) occasionally suggest the outpourings of a robot gripped by an unprogrammed bout of unfiltered emotions.

Tonight, Vernon's superbly versatile band of five multi-instrumentalists add welcome sweat and human grit to the cyborg soul sheen of the more recent material, which takes its clues from cutting-edge hip hop and electronic music production techniques. There are moments when the sudden blasts of digital interference, disembodied samples and antiseptic digital effects used to coat Vernon's remarkably potent voice feel like an unnecessarily stringent strategy to leave maximum space between current and past Bon Iver brand values. The power of the band's performance soon renders such doubts obsolete, however. When fan favourites - the rippling chords and majestic melancholy of Holocene, a muscularly thudding Blood Bank - arrive, they are delivered with equal commitment, and received like the return of an old friend by the consistently appreciative crowd.

Generously bearded and dressed down like he's stepped on stage directly from a yoga session, Vernon seems impressively energised and enthused at this long-delayed show. At one point, he indulges in a spot of shadow-boxing as the band lock into a particularly nimble groove, and his upbeat mood isn't ruffled in the least when an obviously heartfelt talk about the importance of good mental health and feeling safe is interrupted by heckles from the high-spirited audience.

The unusually impressive light show herds each musician inside an illuminated rectangle which, along with the overhead lighting which hovers low over the band's heads like the illuminated landing gear of a descending spaceship, changes colour with dramatic effect according to the mood of the material. Spotlights are frequently directed at the audience in a successful effort to bridge the gap between the crowd and the performers, making tonight's large venue seem a bit more intimate.