never having seen iron & wine live before, i expected to see a guy with a beard and an acoustic guitar play for an hour. instead i saw a guy with a beard and seven other musicians do some crazy low-key noodle-dance jamming. iron & wine (aka sam beam- the guy with the beard) did a "stop making sense" style concert, adding musicians to the stage with each forthcoming song. the sound was crisp and clear; each instrument had its place in the mix, and nothing overwhelmed anything else. at the core were sam and his guitar, and at some points i wish it had been only that. songs previously consisting of bare-bones arrangements were reworked for the full band. though i appreciated the effort, i didn't care for the 7 minute jams tacked onto the tails of many songs. the band was tight, but the improvisations didn't escalate or peak; they just went....on. they encored with "the sea and the rhythm"-- absolutely beautiful; it gave me chills. despite great musicianship all around, i couldn't help but want to hear just the guy with the beard play guitar and sing.

but.... it was really good; i liked it.

beards & vests.

you were in iowa city? no shit, what venue?

englert theatre

crazy. how did you get there? most of our roads and highways are closed or under water

crazy. how did you get there? most of our roads and highways are closed or under water

i drove.
everything was fine until the drive back-- they closed the main interstate. getting home took some doing.

probably worth it

iron & wine are on a short list of people i have to see live

i was suppose to go to columbus to see him tonight, but i have way too much stuff to do. and i don't feel like spending a billion dollars driving to columbus. i saw him once like four years ago in lexington. i liked it a lot