Concert: Iron & Wine (4th & B, 11/27)
I finally got to see one of my favorite acts of all time, Iron & Wine, perform live yesterday. Sadly I had to go to the show by myself because we're just not comfortable leaving the baby with a baby-sitter yet. I believe this was the first time I've been to a concert by myself... I definitely would have preferred some company - ah well.
4th and B was renovated since my last visit there (Elvis Costello, maybe 3 years ago). It's a great improvement - the place is cleaner, better organized, and the acoustics seem to have improved too.
The opening act, Califone, wasn't great in my book. They seemed confused as to what they wanted to be. Most of their songs started out sounding like folk, even bluegrass at times, but devolved into weird improvisational post-rock. I actually like a couple of their tunes, but I don't like what they did to the songs.
Iron & Wine was, as expected, great. The act has turned from a Sam Beam solo projecf into a full 8 piece band, including Sam's sister Sarah (violin and harmonies), an excellent slide guitarist and two percussionists. Needless to say, some of his older songs sound very different with full instrumentation, but over all the new sound works very well even for the older tunes. The band was very tight. It struck me for the first time how Sarah, not the most technically gifted violinist, has a great sense of when to play an accent that perfectly complements the song.
Sam played mostly tracks from his most recent album, but sprinkled in a handful of older songs too, including a gorgeous rendition of "Cinder and Smoke" and a rocking version of "Woman King". Sadly he didn't play "The Trapeze Swinger", which would have probably sounded gorgeous with this band.
Throughout the set one guy kept yelling out, asking Sam to play "Jezebel". Before the last song, Sam said "We'll play one more tune --- it probably won't be Jezebel though." It ended up being "Flightless Bird, American Mouth", the last track of his most recent album, but when he came back for an encore, he played Jezebel acoustically - just about the most gorgeous version of the song I've ever heard. It seemed like he hadn't played the track for a while - he hesitated between chord changes early on - but when he found his groove, it was so beautiful it still gives me chills. After the song, he actually shook the hand of the guy who was begging for the song.
All in all, a beautiful show. I ended up buying a t-shirt --- I'm usually not much for the merch, but this artist is very close to my heart... I just couldn't resist.
Probably no concerts for a while now --- at least until the baby is old enough for us to be comfortable leaving him with his grandparents. Unless Mogwai comes to town or Cocteau Twins unexpectedly reunite. :)
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sraets) wrote,
tired
