Iron & Wine/Calexico live

Iron & Wine/Calexico, Red Red Meat
Congress Theatre, Chicago
Sunday, December 11, 2005

Someone once told me listening to Sam Beam (a.k.a. Iron & Wine) made him feel “like winter.” He would have found it fitting then, that the night Iron & Wine and Calexico hit town for their In The Reins tour (in support of the recent mini-album of the same name) was a drab, chilly Chicago night cold enough to leave you shivering even inside the walls of the Congress.

This though, is no surprise – merely coincidence. What was surprising, however, was how effortlessly the two parties pulled off their traveling collaboration. They already proved it possible on In The Reins (Overcoat), but presenting it live is a whole different challenge. Leading off with “He Lays In The Reins” it became apparent early, though, that neither side was fighting for control of the material, a chance sometimes taken with these kinds of match ups. Most of In The Reins sounds closer to previous Iron & Wine material than anything by Calexico, and with good reason: Beam wrote all seven songs. So the melodic hush folk of Iron & Wine is the album’s main dish, but you can’t ask for a better Southwestern seasoning than that of Calexico.

Of course, not overpowering the delicate nature of Beam’s performance is a chore in itself, but one Calexico mainmen Joey Burns and John Convertino handled with ease. During “Sixteen, Maybe Less” they played so gently, you would have thought they were trying not to wake any sleeping babies in the crowd. Instead they they were trying not to disrupt the floating vocal harmonies of Beam and his sister Sarah (who joined her brother one song deep into Iron & Wine’s set and stayed onstage throughout the In The Reins portion as well). Mexican vocalist Salvador Duran (who earlier played a 15-minute set) joined the fold for “He Lays In The Reins,” and drew maybe the night’s biggest crowd response for his booming voice. Burns assumed lead vocals for “Red Dust,” a more rollicking number (thanks to a gritty acoustic riff from Beam) while “Burn That Broken Bed” showcased Calexico’s swelling horns and Beam and Burns’ mingling voices.

As far as surprises go, none may have been bigger than the appearance of Red Red Meat, the thought-to-be-defunct Chicago group. Taking the stage to little fanfare (minus a quick announcement from a non-performer welcoming “a band that hasn’t played Chicago in many years”) Jim Becker, Ben Massarella, Brian Deck, and Tim Rutili used the talents of Calexico and Beam (who read lyrics off a sheet of paper) for a brief set that dusted off “Braindead” and “Comes” among others. But no word on the band’s status, more dates, new material . . . nothing but a “Thanks a lot” from Rutili as he and the group walked away.

Calexico’s pre-Reins set was noticeably under attended, likely due to the hundreds of fans stuck outside, oblivious to to the fact music began a half hour earlier than the 6:45 start time House Of Blues (promoter) posted on its Web site. Thankfully, tardy patrons were still able to witness the band’s cover of Love’s “Alone Again Or” and a dusty stampede through “Guero Canelo” (featuring Duran and members of the Iron & Wine percussion section). Iron & Wine’s set was understandably much more subdued — as in you could hear what people were ordering at the bar while Beam and his backing band played. Intimate numbers like “Cinder And Smoke” and “Hickory” glided through the venue with the weightlessness of a paper airplane, making the thump of the kick drum on “Jezebel” all the more jarring. Subtle changes were made to “Gray Stables” and “Woman King” to vary the songs from the studio versions, and while they didn’t necessarily make the songs better or worse, they were enough to give fans a change of pace.

In reality, Iron & Wine’s set featured as much Calexico as the night-ending Reins portion, as Burns and Convertino each spent significant time onstage with Beam, adding splashes of red and green to his predominately gray pallet. “Look at all these friends I’ve got,” Beam joked while people filed onstage to take part in “On Your Wings.” If only we all had friends like these.

— Trevor Fisher

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly