Iron & Wine, 4-23-05, Lawrence KS, The Grenada

Caught Iron and Wine at the sold out Grenada last night. Since Brad already reviewed the show in Cleveland I won't repeat too much. First off, I hadn't seen Iron and Wine before and my fav record so far is Endless Numbered Days (not really feeling the Woman King EP). They did about a 75 minute set, most of which was a 6 piece arrangement, and a lot of the older stuff was reconfigured to fit this. One of those was the reggae version "Cinder and Smoke" that Brad wasn't feelin but I didn't mind it. HOWEVER, almost all of the full band arrangements I thought treaded dangerously close to jam band territory. The only thing dividing them from Phish is one extended solo. Ok Ok, and some awful awful lyrics (but they do have the beards). One of the best show moments in recent memory was during "Bird Stealing Bread" when the house lights did one of those roll-out toward the crowd then up toward the ceiling moves, and Sam literally started laughing and looked at the lights, fucking up the climax of the song. It was hilarious and a totally genuine moment. Otherwise, the songs Sam did with his sister or solo were incredible. There didn't appear to be any room to adjust the setlist despite me yelling for "Dead Man's Will" (a total longshot), but he finished the encore with "The Trapeze Swinger" from the In Good Company Soundtrack. I hadn't heard this 10-minute epic before, but I was totally moved and that song alone was worth the $20 admission. Overall, I'd def see it again, but I'd love it even more if it was just Sam and his sis. Band of HORSES opened and was cool in a similar folky style, I want to hear a recording. Crowd was lukewarm on them but they were sol out of their EP before I could get my hands on it. Eric Johnson from Fruit Bats also played but I missed him.