[photo by PSquared Photography – courtesy of brooklynvegan]

Exactly four years ago, Sam Beam took Iron and Wine into a series of intimate venues for a solo tour of very memorable nights. We were fortunate to capture one of the two nights at the tiny Abrons Arts Center on the Lower East Side and it was one of the best shows we saw that year. On Sunday night, we caught the Portchester stop on the current tour and the stage setting couldn’t have been any more different. This version of Iron and Wine has 13 people on stage, including a horn section and a string trio. Sam is touring on the new album Ghost On Ghost and the new release is a “big” record with wide arrangements and touches of jazz, bebop and ragtime, which makes the big band necessary for the new material but also offers the opportunity to re-figure some older material. Early in the set we were moved by the new arrangement of “Kingdom of the Animals” and we are streaming it below. The Capitol show was lengthy with a representative setlist of older and new songs and a few covers, and also included a short solo segment mid-set. Despite the nearly two hours of music, the juxtaposition of styles, witty banter and full stage kept the show moving and it was thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining throughout. Iron and Wine will tour Europe beginning later this month before returning for Fall dates in Canada and the US.

I recorded this set under some difficult circumstances. Due to venue restrictions for a seated show, I was set up at the very rear of the floor and was only permitted to raise the mic stand to about 4 feet. The result is that the recording is somewhat muffled, but more troublingly the low height captured a hum/buzz in the left channel from what I believe was the lighting system in front of the mics. Otherwise, the recording is well balanced and has a nice deep presence. With these caveats, enjoy!

Stream “Kingdom of the Animals”:

Download the Complete show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Iron and Wine
2013-05-19
Capitol Theatre
Portchester, NY

Digital Master
Four-Track Audience Recording

Sennheiser MKH-8040 Cardioids + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2013-05-21

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:50:12]
01 [introduction]
02 New Mexicos No Breeze
03 Carousel
04 Kingdom of the Animals
05 Tree by the River
06 [banter – date night]
07 Grass Widows
08 Sixteen Maybe Less
09 Belated Promise Ring
10 Baby Center Stage
11 Such Great Heights [Postal Service]
12 [banter – Free Bird]
13 Resurrection Fern
14 Each Coming Night
15 [banter – rage request]
16 Joy
17 Big Burned Hand
18 Caught in the Briars
19 Jezebel
20 Grace for Saints and Ramblers
21 Passing Afternoon
22 The Desert Babbler
23 Low Light Buddy of Mine
24 Lean Into the Light
25 Your Fake Name Is Good Enough for Me
26 [encore break]
27 Flightless Bird American Mouth

If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Iron and Wine, visit the website, and purchase Ghost on Ghost from the Iron and Wine Store [HERE].