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2008-01-14
Sala Apolo
Sometimes it’s the bands that you’re not totally involved with that end up impressing you the most live. I can honestly say that I own more Iron and Wine than I have ever listened to. Whilst this may sound rather damning I do really like the band and have especially come to love most recent album “The Shepherd’s Dog,” but, on record at least they are one band whose liner notes I do not need to read. I love hearing random selections of their music pop up on my ipod and I love everything I hear as it washes dreamily over me but they simply aren’t the kind of band whose lyrics you need to sing along to.
Always happy to be proven wrong of course, last Monday’s appearance by the band in Barcelona was a genuine knees up. When responsibly purchasing my tickets for Sam Beam’s happy little bunch of songsters I certainly hadn’t expected a Grateful Dead style jam session. Of course there were the slow moments I had been banking on – including truly beautiful versions of “Innocent Bones” and “Resurrection Fern” from the recent release – in which Sam and his bandmate’s voices sounded almost as if they were two tones from one source, so perfectly they ran along together, which as it is his sister, I guess they were. Overall it was a spirit of carefree joviality which marked the evening as the large touring band moved from chirpy folk to spaced out psyche jams.
So in the end I was left wishing that I knew all the lyrics so that I could be up the front with the true fans singing along and bopping about. Just as when I see international bands who save money by touring Europe with only an acoustic setup, it would be nice to see the other incarnation of Iron and Wine, with just the man himself as he had originally started out. It was certainly a great performance by a poetic, musically excellent and simultaneously fun band, but being a natural nitpicker – even in the midst of all the fun – I couldn’t help wondering whether I would have enjoyed them even more in a one man show. Oh the irony and wine!
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