iron & wine, 6/12, iowa city, ia
 

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.

englert theatre

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