Iron & Wine, Arthur & Yu - Metro, 9/23

I was disappointed to find that the opening band was not made up of a talking aardvark and that girl from my summer camp, Jennifer Yu. They were good enough. i was ready for them to be done though. A little bit Mamas/Papas, a little Neil Young influence, no a lot. But,the gal, she just isn't a good fit, except on the one song "come to view." She sounds like she belongs in that one, but the rest of the time seemed like a pretty accessory.

As for the main course, I was pleased. I'm not a huge Iron & Wine fan. I have the EP with Calexico, and love that stuff. And I've listened to a handful of random bits here and there. Let it be known though, that this is probably the closest to a jam band I'll ever go.

For the first night of the tour, I thought they played pretty well together - especially since there were eight of them. There were a few things to iron out soundwise - but if you catch them later in the tour, I think it will be a pretty good experience.

We stood front and center in the balcony - a great vantage point, and at one point, I spaced out during one of the songs and was getting sad about something, and then found myself laughing, because I was looking down on this field of cellphone fireflies, blinking as people sent text and photos.

I know, I'm supposed to write about the music. Well - although the first single from the new album (out tomorrow, I believe) is relatively cheerful, a lot of Sam Beam's music chugs and races along in this slightly dark way - like the score of a film where the protaganist is making a mistake, like the person driving on their way to cheat on a spouse, or where someone is covering up an accidental death.

Are you still with me? All in all, I liked it. It was fun to watch the band - sometimes I couldn't figure out what sound was coming from where. I don't know my music terms, but I really like Beam's plunky picking on his guitar - but he would just confuse me even more when he would turn his back. Percussionist #2, I don't know his name, so I'll call him Animal, was pretty fun to watch. I swear he was like the guy on the Harlem Globetrotters cartoon who was always pulling shit out of his afro. I don't know where the guy was keeping all of those little bells and whistles (and blocks, bowls, chimes, rattles, and an one point, a lap-sized steel drum.)

I had no expectations, and I was very pleased. I was not, unlike one guy in the balcony with us, there JUST to hear "The Trapeze Swinger." About 2/3's through the show, his yelling for that song became a little excessive, and then at the end, he was in serious mourning, threatening a tantrum - I was really worried that he was going to throw himself off the balcony.

I was looking forward to a late dinner at Uncommon Ground after the show, but their kitchen was closed, and we ended up at the Raw Bar and Grill. Good wine, bad frog
legs, and really, really weird service.

I'm not doing very well with this succinct thing.