Mark and I got to the gig a bit late (missing the support sorry!) and were quite surprised at how full the Met was for Iron & Wine. When head honcho, the big bearded Samuel Beam lead his troops on, he too seemed a bit taken aback: “There’s a lot of you in here!” This incarnation of Iron & Wine saw 8 wonderfully talented musicians on stage – how many drummers do you know that can double as an extra saxophone player?
The first couple of tracks had a real Zappa flavour to them with sax and xylophone interweaving. Incredibly complex melodies built around a wonderful rhythm section (with an extra guy on Vibes who was the dead spit of Dr Hope from Holby City). The backing vocals were to die for…….in fact its unfair to draw attention to any one of the band as they were all magnificent.
The last time we were at the Met was (to see the Guillemots) and Mark had got quite irate at all the students gabbing in the quiet bits – what’s the point of paying to get in, then not listen? The quiet bits in tonights show, of which there were quite a few, had no such problem – Samuel had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand.
If you get the chance, you must go and see them – I just wish I hadn’t forgotten my camera thanks to Mark and his iPhone for the pic
Bob the Chiropodist