Iron & Wine

Last night we went to see Iron & Wine perform at the Salt Air Palace. Let me start off by saying that I've never really been a big fan of Iron & Wine. I think Sam Beam makes quiet and mellow music which is pretty, but I've always felt that his contemporaries (Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, etc) make the same style music in a much more creative and effecting way. I've always felt that Beam's music is bit too boring and well... plain. However, his most recent release, The Shepard's Dog, sees Beam expanding his musical palette, speeding things up a bit, and adding more colorful instrumentation. It's the first Iron & Wine album I can say that I really enjoy and the first that I don't label with the “overrated” sticker.

It was my first concert at Salt Air Palace, and besides the long drive to get there, I must say that I am favorably impressed with the venue. For some reason I thought it was going to be some massive, impersonal venue, but turned out to be very similar to The Depot (my favorite venue in Salt Lake). Brian, John, and I hunkered up at the bar during the opening act; who's name I cannot recall, but they sounded pretty good with a southern country-indie vibe. Certainly they were more lively and into their music compared to what we were about to hear.

Iron & Wine took the stage with seven people total; two drummers, a keyboard-ist, a pianist, a violinist, a guitarist, and Beam. Initially I was impressed at the large backing band, since many of Beam's albums are just him and his guitar. Beam announced that he was getting over a cold, and although it was hard to hear him talk, it didn't seem to affect his singing at all; and I appreciated him giving it his all. Despite the fact that Beam was sick, he was the only person in the ensemble who seemed to be giving at least 50% into the concert; as his backing band seemed lifeless and disinterested throughout the concert.

Actually, the first few tunes started out favorably for me; but not too long after, things went downhill. My biggest beef with the concert is how SLOW all the songs were. Granted, most Iron & Wine songs are down tempo; but Beam was making the excellent upbeat songs from The Shepard's Dog so slow and even making his slow songs even slower! I just couldn't get over why they were doing this. While there were songs here and there that I totally enjoyed, I just couldn't get past the fact that the ensemble was totally ruining and making most of the songs so uninteresting. The concert also seemed to go on too long... and at one point Brian (who's a big Iron & Wine fan) turned around and asked “do you all want to go?”, and it was the first time that I actually wanted to leave too. But then Beam announced he was on his last song so we decided to stay.

I feel like if the ensemble actually acted like they cared to be there and actually put some sort of life or emotion into their performance, the concert would have been so much better. The night wasn't a total waste though, like I said there were a few songs that I got into and it's always a blast to hang out with Brian and John (especially on the hour long car ride back because of the heavy snow). Overall though, you can bet that you'll never see me at another Iron & Wine concert; but if Beam continues to make albums as good as The Shepard's Dog, I'll definitely keep supporting his music by purchasing it.