Love at first Beard: Iron & Wine at ZMF in Freiburg, DE.
I’ve been enchanted by the hypnotic vocal stylings and intricate instrumental melodies of Iron and Wine for quite sometime now. However, my admiration of this band was taken to a whole new level during a live set I was lucky enough to catch at the ZMF music festival in Freiburg.
Upon my fashionably late arrival I was greeted by the humid embrace of the carni tent in which the band was making the magic happen. Let me clarify that I’m not using the word magic to poke fun at Sam’s majestic beard…which is second in majesty only to his music…but I digress.
I knew most of the songs…or at least I thought I did. The lyrics were familiar but through hauntingly delicious builds and tidal retreats of acoustic and synthesized sound the meanings, moods, auras, what-have-you of the songs were crafted into something that I’d like to describe as existentially orgasmic. The lyrics were there to comfort you, but were merely threads in a carpet being masterfully woven by the wizard orchestra busy at work in that steamy tent. The result was an elevation to new and sometimes overwhelming levels of self (re)discovery for all involved.
The magicians on stage took the happily swaying, dancing, kissing, drinking audience on a sonic journey through a parallel universe or 2, or 10…I found my body and soul joyfully dancing to songs that I previously fell asleep to and quietly questioning my very existence to the intimately soothing combo of voice and guitar that replaced the synths and heaviy rythms I had just days prior bobbed my head to.
I won’t bother going into specific song names as I’d like to think of the entire show as a singular entity of positive energy that was released into the world for the benefit of all of existence. There were bluesy grooves, and there were surprise free-jazz jam outs that culminated into some mind bending noise-rock. The band sang, played, moved as one majestic thing, a perfectly synchronized organism. Apart from several thank yous and a bit of mic feedback here and there, the show was banter free and focused perfectly on the music. It all worked and it was all very beautiful.
This was my first time seeing the band live and I couldn’t be happier that it happened this way. I left the show with a new appreciation for the band and their sound. This show is a re-affirmation of the reason I enjoy experiencing live music. In live shows as in life, nothing is static. There is always a different perspective, always a new way to understand and experience something. A glimpse into the different ways an idea or emotion or what-have-you can be expressed spontaneously is what I cherish and enjoy most about experiencing and creating music.
I highly recommend catching a live show if they are playing close to where you live your life.
Iron and Wine official site:
http://www.ironandwine.com/
ZMF:
www.zmf.de
*I’ll post a few pics of the show soon.
