Iron & Wine played Greene Space, Fallon and Mercury Lounge (pics & video)
photos by Aaron Epstein
Iron & Wine @ Greenespace
“The [Mercury Lounge] gig felt like a loose rehearsal, with Beam taking gaps to figure out which guitar he’d use. “It’s nice to play new songs, but it’s nerve-wracking,” he admitted at one point. “You never know what’s going to happen, and we don’t exactly practice.”
Wearing a charcoal blazer over a sweater and sporting a large, bushy beard, Beam still looks like the film professor at the University of Miami he once was (he now lives in Austin, Texas with his five daughters). Strapping on his acoustic guitar, backed by a seven-piece band, he kicked off with the new “Tree By the River,” a nostalgic, heavy-strumming ode to a high school sweetheart with vocal harmonies.
“A lot of people I talk to say it has an AM Gold feel to it,” Beam tells Rolling Stone of the track. “They remember hearing in their parents’ car growing up, and I love that music.”-[Rolling Stone]
Sam Beam & co (aka Iron & Wine) played NYC three times in the past two days, including the Greene Space on Wednesday (1/5, where these pictures come from) and Jimmy Fallon/Mercury Lounge yesterday (1/6). The Mercury Lounge, which was private, was reviewed by Rolling Stone (see above). Its setlist is below.
Iron & Wine’s surprise appearance at the Greene Space, as well as the two appearances the following day, were to promote the new LP Kiss Each Other Clean (out January 25th via Warner Brothers) which was played in its entirety at Greene Space, and if you missed it, you can watch the entire Greene Space show at NPR’s site.
For more public shows, catch Iron & Wine on tour later this month.
More pictures from Greene Space, as well as video from Jimmy Fallon (note the introduction of Iron & Wine by the “golden voice” of Ted Williams.), below…
Iron & Wine Performs “Teeth in The Grass” on Fallon
Iron & Wine on Jimmy Fallon “Half Moon”
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Sam Beam – guitar, vocal
Jim Becker – guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, backing vocal
Stuart Bogie – saxophone, clarinet, flute
Matt Lux – bass
Joe Adamik – drums
Ben Massarella – percussion
Rosie Thomas – backing vocals
Nick Luca – keys