Sam Beam, better known as his stage name Iron & Wine, is holding court on a crowded stage. Although Iron & Wine is a one-man musical project, Beam is joined by seven collaborators tonight: there are the musicians – covering strings, keys and drums – and then there are the puppeteers: two artists from the Emmy award-winning Manual Cinema work three projectors. On a screen behind Beam and the band, the seated audience is treated to a shadow puppet show throughout the set. We begin with an ominous clouded sky as Beam asks God to deliver us love on his opening song On Your Wings.
With his long grey beard and dark suit, Beam cuts a prophetic figure on stage, as he digs into Iron & Wine’s six-album-deep discography with songs such as Me and Lazarus and Resurrection Fern. Beam’s between-song banter is as wry as his lyrics. “I see a few of you nodding off already,” he says with a laugh, waving up to the balcony. Fiona Apple is nowhere to be seen, so he is joined by opener Lizzie No on the soulful duet All in Good Time, a highlight from the recent album Light Verse.
