I wont bore you with any sort of real review this time.
You know Iron & Wine.
You know Band of Horses.
They’re bands that have already been inducted into the indie world and listened to by all your friends. They’ve been studied and covered by teens on Youtube. Played much larger venues than Webster Hall. Sang to much larger crowds.
Now that the two (I can only assume) long time buds, Sam Beam and Ben Bridwell have grown tired of playing their own tunes apart, they have decided to tour in support of their most recent album together and no one is going to stop them. The album title, lifted from a Talking Heads song, Sing Into My Mouth, is a collection of eclectic cover songs completely re-imagined to the Iron & Wine acoustic-folkiness we all know and love. And with Bridwell sharing a few of the tracks as the lead singer, and the others as the backup, it’s no wonder the shows keep selling out. At the very first moment the show begins to the very last, the crowd doesn’t do much. They don’t sing with the tunes. They don’t dance. They don’t even sway. They just gape, gawk and beam toward the stage. It’s an equally weird and magical experience (especially in New York City) to have your audience so receptive to snail-paced folk cover songs like “This Must Be The Place” by Talking Heads, which on all accounts, is not a snail-paced folk song. But if you’re gonna hand your songs over to anyone, Beam and Bridwell are the perfect duo to simultaneously do them justice while completely turning them on their heads. But like I said, I won’t waste your time with this one. I’m sure if you’re reading this review you’re already upset you missed it and you just want to see how it went.
Well I can’t help you out there, pal.
But let’s ask our good friend, Ben Bridwell, what he thought of the show. Take it away, Ben..
There you have it.