Iron And Wine: Live At The 9:30 Club

This past Saturday I took an excursion down to Baltimore/DC to see Iron and Wine in concert. The following is a summary of the events that took place.

10:30 AM: I embark on a mission to find myself an FM transmitter, in order to listen to my iPod on the way down. It's a 2.5 hour drive from my house to Baltimore, and I wasn't about to go without music. Of course, the Radio Shack I've gone to in the local mall for 19 years is now closed, unbeknownst to me, so I spent the good part of an hour looking for outlets which sell such a transmitter. Once I finally found one, I was ecstatic; I plugged it in and got on my way.

1:20 PM: I innocently begin to listen to OK Computer for the first time in months. I like to think this had some effect on Radiohead's earth-shattering announcement regarding In Rainbows.

2:15 PM: I finally arrive at MICA in Baltimore, where my good friend Emily attends college. Emily and I, as well as her mother and her friend Nick, were the ones who were going to the concert. I got a parking pass, parked my car, and went over to Emily's apartment. I must say, it's a lot nicer than what we have here at Lehigh. But anyway, once Nick came down from his apartment upstairs, the four of us got into Emily's mom's car, and we set off for Silver Spring, MD. The show tonight is an early show.

3:45 PM: We arrive in Silver Spring. We are traveling to DC via the metro, and we can park for free in Silver Spring. The waiting for the train took forever, but luckily Emily and Nick had enough art school stories to amuse me for the time being.

5:00 PM: We arrive in downtown Washington, DC; U Street to be exact. We quickly stop at a cafe, since I have not eaten since the morning, plus doors don't open until 6:30. I get a grilled cheese.

6:30 PM: Well, the moment has arrived. Even though it is no longer in the same building as it was back in its heyday, I have always wanted to visit the 9:30 Club. It is essentially Philly's Electric Factory, but it utilizes the space it has a lot better. We go on the upper level and take a seat for the opening act.

7:23 PM: Arthur and Yu come on to warm us up for Iron and Wine. Unfortunately, they were rather bland and generic; their studio layering I read about didn't translate for them well live. They also played 10 songs for about 50 minutes, which is too much for an opening band. Especially one that didn't captivate me. Sorry, guys.

8:41 PM: Finally, what we had all been waiting for: Iron and Wine. We headed down to the lower standing room level for them. I have always pictured Iron and Wine as just Sam Beam, but on this tour he is apparently playing with an 8 piece band, which is awesome. They played most of the new record, including such songs as "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car," "Carousel" and "House By the Sea." Actually, I'm fairly confident they played at least 10 songs off the new record. But they also played many old favorites, like "Sodom, South Georgia" and an awesome sped-up version of "Jezebel." Keep in mind that all of these songs were played by a full band, which makes for a very interesting sound, especially on "Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)," where the faux-reggae jamming turned out to be very cool. As Nick said, it "sounded like Matisyahu."

9:52 PM: Sam, by himself, comes out and gives us an encore of "Naked As We Came." It was absolutely beautiful, similar to when I saw Sufjan Stevens. He was also with a rather large band, about 20 piece, and he came out by himself to encore with "The Dress Looks Nice On You" and "To Be Alone With You." That's still my favorite encore of all time. But this one was good too.

12:30 AM: Emily and I arrive back at MICA, both completely exhausted, so we go to sleep. As I lay on the half-size futon in her living room, I look back on this great concert. And I can't fall asleep because her roommates are playing Katamari Damacy at an obnoxious volume.

Iron and Wine - Naked As We Came

PS. I apologize if any of my remarks in the Electioneers post below were taken seriously. I legitimately like all of the songs I put on that list; I don't seriously mean half of what I said. I can't speak for Zack, however.