"I was walking far from home, where the names were not burned along the wall. Saw a building high as heaven, but the door was so small, door was so small. I saw rainclouds, little babies, and a bridge that had tumbled to the ground. I saw sinners making music, I've dreamt of that sound, dreamt of that sound." ~iron & wine

Oh, Sam Beam. I love you and your awesome beard. Time for a concert review. Iron & Wine were full of surprises last night, and overall I had a lot of fun. We got a spot in the front row, which was perfect (as you can see from my photo above). Sam is hilarious; he's very good at stage banter and interacting with the crowd. Iron & Wine vary their setlists like crazy, so there's no way to predict what you'll hear when you go to one of their concerts. I was hoping for a few songs but I didn't get my hopes up. Sam played my two favorite songs from Kiss Each Other Clean, his newest album, but he didn't play any of my older favorites. I was okay with that because I got to hear "Walking Far From Home," and that was enough for me.

Iron & Wine is another band whose sound has changed with their newest album (just like The Felice Brothers, whom I wrote about recently). I'm honestly not sure I like the new direction (in fact, I think I don't). There were twelve people onstage at the concert, and if you know Iron & Wine from it's earliest state, you know that's a big change. A few new songs, though, like "Walking Far From Home," remind me of the simplicity and beauty of Sam's earlier music.

I was thrilled to see one of those extra people onstage; Marketa Irglova lent her voice! Marketa is in the band The Swell Season, and she's also the star of one of my absolute favorite movies, Once. She won an Oscar for the song "Falling Slowly" from that film (I loved when Jon Stewart brought her back onstage to give her acceptance speech after she was cut off). Even cooler than hearing Marketa sing last night was the fact that she gave me a setlist after the show! Being handed a setlist by an artist you greatly admire is pretty freakin' awesome. So that definitely made my night.

Here are two videos I took, of my two favorite songs from Kiss Each Other Clean. Watch them. Seriously, you'll enjoy them. Marketa is on the right side of the screen. I recorded audio of the whole show and video of a good portion of it, so I might share more later.

Walking Far From Home:


Half Moon: