Iron and Wine at Mass MoCA: Observations, Art and Setlist Guessing

On Saturday night I traversed the back-country to the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, MA  braving the hazardous rural roads and some weird art installations to gaze upon Sam Beam’s mighty fine beard. It was an amazing evening of music, and I’ve brought back some crappy cell phone pictures and a very hazy recollection of the set list for all of you. Click the picture below to see the rest that I took.

Even though I was in the front row and Sam’s setlist was right on the cusp of my vision, I can’t remember the exact order of the songs played. I have a pretty decent idea of what they were though, so its better than nothing. Here’s my best guess- if anybody remembers better please comment and let me know.

Iron and Wine, 4/16/11 Mass MoCA, North Adams, MA
(Setlist tentative)
Boy With A Coin
Freedom Hangs like Heaven
Summer in Savannah
Walking Far From Home
My Lady’s House
Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog)
Big Burned Hand
Half Moon
Lions Mane
House By The Sea
Tree By The River
God Made the Automobile
Love And Some Verses
Rabbit Will Run
E: Flightless Bird, American Mouth (Acapella)

First off, The Low Anthem were great. They’ve pretty close to perfected their delicate, beautiful compositions, underscoring their elegant lyrics with ephemeral organs, sustained clarinets, finger-picked guitars and alternative instruments like singing saws and bowed banjos. Their performance had an endearing folksiness to it, with the quartet performing several songs gathered around a single microphone and band members swapping instruments between each song. They ended the set with one of the most fasicnating and gorgeous bits of crowd participation I’ve ever heard, asking audience members to pull out their cell phones at the end of “This God Damn House,” call the person they went to the concert with (which disqualified solo attendees like me), put both phones on speaker and position them next to each other. This creates a feedback loop that produces a whirring, almost cricket-like drone that sounded otherworldly with so many people together. Ben Knox Miller even joined in himself, grabbing bandmate Jeff Prytkosky’s phone and whistling into both of them to manipulate the pitch of the humming. Grab a friend and try out the phone thing for yourself, then make your friend come with you to see The Low Anthem.  Check out an awesome video (including the speakerphone outro) below.

The headliners started their set after the Rhode Islanders hauled their quirky gear off and the stage was prepared for Iron and Wine’s 10-piece ensemble, which included a 3-piece horn section, extra percussionist, female backup singer, as well as a standard bass, drum, guitar and keyboard lineup behind Mr. Beam. The set started off on a shaky note, with Sam accidentally dropping his walnut Gibson SG and needing to take a minute to retune it. However, this initial awkwardness was soon forgiven when Beam led the band into an amazing, blown out “Boy With a Coin.” If you aren’t familiar with the difference between I&W’s acoustic side and the full band incarnation, here’s a video that shows the layered, polyrhythmic elements of their live show:

The next highlight of the set (if I have my order right (doubtful.)) was “Walking Far From Home,” which has a looming electronic drone on the album but came off more traditional and simpler live, with the synths not coming in until the end. This song exemplified Sam’s knack for catchy vocal melodies that he showed off all evening.

After a gorgeous version of “My Lady’s House,” a standout from 2005’s Woman King EP, the band launched into the deliciously percussive “Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog).” For this performance the band traded in the layered, bass-driven funk from the album for an extended and hyper-spacey free-jazz jam, teasing the audience with chorus after chorus of guitar-string scratching and wahwah’d out banjo riffs. Stream the album cut below, and just imagine something twice as exploratory and inventive.

My favorite moment of the night was the unique presentation of “Lion’s Mane,” the opening track from one of my favorite albums of all time, 2002’s “Creek Drank The Cradle.” While the album cut is low-fi and acoustic like the rest of Iron and Wine’s early catalog, the live arrangement featured a simple, steady drum beat and bright, optimistic horn blasts over pretty banjo picking. It was sunny and lovely, reflecting the lyrics beautifully. I was just beaming in the front row, I’m sure Sam saw me smile. I wish there was a higher quality video to show the arrangement, but this will do. He also played it slightly differently at MoCA, with a stronger drum presence.

The set ended with uptempo, rocked out versions of two of his most melodic songs, “God Made the Automobile” and “Love and Some Verses.” On these songs the band went for a guitar heavy, early-sixties rock sound, recalling the first few Beatles albums. The energy brought out the melodies of the songs, but I don’t think they were as affective (or effective for that matter) than the acoustic versions. These songs are beautiful for their simplicity, and the superfluous decoration of a ten-piece band overshadows their power.

For the encore Sam came out solo, as he usually does, and seemed like he was going to take a request. There was a near consensus for “The Trapeze Swinger,” but he ignored the calls (he probably didn’t feel up to tackling all seven minutes) and kicked into his acapella version of “Flightless Bird, American Mouth.” It was chilling and gorgeous, with fingering the chord shapes on his guitar to keep his mind straight. As if the rest of the evening wasn’t proof enough, this closing moment further emphasized the melodic genius of Sam Beam. This recording is almost identical to how he performed it in North Adams:

Of all the shows I’ve been to, I’ve never been to a venue that rewarded me so much for arriving early as Mass MoCA. I pulled into the lot with three hours to spare, spent the first two wandering the galleries (which were pretty amazing but far too artsy for me to try to write about), then I hopped in line an hour before showtime, securing a spot right on the stage. The hall was spacious and sounded good, and best of all (for me) there was no photo pit, so the front row had unrestricted access to the front of the stage. It made for an intimate exchange between the band and front row, with crowd members occasionally conversing with Sam in at a natural volume, and a few times I found myself catching eye contact with the drummer, locking into his pulsing jazz patterns. Basically I had an awesome time start to finish, and I’d suggest catching Iron and Wine or The Low Anthem live as well as visiting Mass MoCA, for a concert or even just for fun.

Explore posts in the same categories: Concerts, Reviews

Tags: Iron and Wine, Mass MoCA, Setlist, The Low Anthem

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