The last time I had been in the Horseshoe Tavern poor Davey von Bohlen and his new band Maritime had to perform in front me, my two friends, 4 music nerds (each of whom was there by themselves), a couple that was all over each other, and 2 girls who showed up solely to talk on their cell phones. Luckily for Sam Beam, better known as Iron & Wine, more than 11 people showed up for his show at the Horseshoe. As it turned out, a whole helluva lotta’ people showed up and all of them had put their applauding pants on that morning. I can only imagine the shock someone might have had if they arrived at the concert having never heard the uber-mellow sound of Iron&Wine and then witnessing the crowd react like a 747 at take-off after each and every song. Although the music is bare boned and sleep-inducing to mtv viewers some, you can’t deny the intensity of Sam Beam’s words. Like Serj Tankian, Beam’s lyrics scream from his very soul. This is all the more remarkable since Beam does his ’screaming’ through Downy soft vocals which he whispers into the mic ‘as though he’s trying not to wake a sleeping baby in the next room’*.

It’s been my experience that the average Toronto concert-goer could easily be interchanged with your stereotypical ‘industry person’. Usually, the ‘constantly unimpressed’ industry people stick out at a show, but not in Toronto. Here they just blend in. Somehow, band’s that truely ‘rock’ can pull out all the stops and still only illicit the reaction of a morgue with a couple twitchy corpses. But on this night, Sam Beam somehow managed to raise the dead (and no one was more shocked of this than him). Not only did the crowd erupt after every song but the crowd whooped it up for most of the slide-guitar solos (hell, you’d think guy was playing the slide guitar with his cock or something). On top of this, one fan, let’s call her ‘loud girl’, thought that screaming screeching after the first riff of every song was required. At first it was kind of funny, even the band the had a smile and laugh at her enthusiasm. But after a few songs (and screeches) loud girl’s charm shirviled up quicker than Rick James’ fortunes. Luckily, loud girl’s antics did provide for the best audience interaction of the night…

Sam Beam: Wow, I thought you Canadians were all mellow. Smoking pot and stuff
Guy in Audience: She’s from Buffalo!
Sam Beam: I’ve been to Buffalo, and she wasn’t there.

Damn, after reading that back this show really does come off as boring. Ok, he’s no Mike Doughty, but for what Sam Beam lacks in showmanship he and his band make up for with a sheer ass kicking show. This self-confessed music nerd’s only complaints from the night was that the song selection didn’t seem varied enough nor did they play many old tracks (nor did my several requests for ‘Such Great Heights’ lead to anything). On that note, one guy standing beside me was foolish enough to request ‘Jesus the Mexican Boy’. Now, I understand that music is “to each his own” but let me explain how this guys foolishness works on several levels. First off, yelling ‘Jesus the Mexican Boy’ at a concert really is a mouthful. You just sound foolish saying it. Secondly, for the love of god, if you’re gonna request a song off what it easily one of the best EPs in recent memory why would you request what is clearly the worst track on it? But those complaints aside, the show was stellar. Not only did the band put on a 90 minute set but they also followed it up with 2 encores, easily earning my $10 investment.

Iron & Wine is touring their latest release Our Endless Numbered Days which should be available at all fine music stores (and can even be heard playing at Starbucks from time to time).

The photo used above was stolen from chromewaves which has great reviews of the toronto concert scene.