Iron And Wine live!

Iron And Wine
Vic Theatre, Chicago
Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Just as bookends maintain a shelf’s order and organization, the breathtaking opening and closing numbers of Iron And Wine’s tour-closing show on Tuesday – the second of a two-night stand in Chicago’s Vic Theatre – kept the rest of the set list from going off kilter.

Beginning with “The Trapeze Swinger,” the man behind Iron And Wine, Sam Beam, shared the stage only with his vocalist/violinist sister Sarah for a lesson in earnestness. The trend again reared its head during the encore of “Resurrection Fern,” easily the best and most heartening track off of 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog, with Calexico’s Paul Niehaus adding a mourning, pedal steel guitar to the song’s hushed reverence.

In between, Beam, with his trademark shock of hair and beard straight out of “Little House On The Prairie,” welcomed a full band, including percussionist Ben Massarella from opening act Califone. The bevy of sounds – xylophone, accordion, organ, violin, electric guitar – made for aural candy on “Peace Beneath The City,” but minimized the room’s intimacy and put a damper on deciphering Beam’s poetic lyrics.

Niehaus and Massarella deserve gold stars for their contributions to “Upward Over The Mountain” and a dusty “Woman King.” Armed with a toy chest of chiming bits and pieces – a cluster of mini gongs strung together, a rectangular wooden box, a tinkling child’s four-note xylophone in the shape of grading rocks – Massarella achieved the whooshing calm of a shrink’s office on “Passing Afternoon.”

While wonderfully groovy and eclectic – a true departure from Beam’s lo-fi 2002 debut, The Creek Drank The Cradle — the long-winded jams (which found Beam often with his back to the audience) dangerously tiptoed the line into Grateful Dead/Dave Matthews Band territory. One head-dizzying foray into the mindset of Jerry Garcia found “House By The Sea,” “The Devil Never Sleeps,” and “White Tooth Man” bleeding into each other with nary a breath in between.

The night’s omissions spoke volumes. With such focus on the band dynamic instead of Beam’s face-to-face confessionals, the absence of “Boy With A Coin” and “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” equals the slight of Jethro Tull winning that metal Grammy over Metallica.

— Janine Schaults

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly