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Review Wed Jun 08 2011
Iron and Wine @ Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays in Millenium Park
It wouldn't be Summer in Chicago without free music Monday in Millenium Park; it wouldn't be free music Monday without having to battling wine sipping afterwork types, suburban transplants and a smattering of hipsters for lawn space (or in the case of this past Monday night, concrete space). To give you an idea of the expansiveness of the crowd who came out for headliner Iron and Wine and opener Head and the Heart: people spilled off the lawn onto the concrete sidewalks and all of the tree filled areas surrounding the pavilion. But, once (and if), a spot was found, snacks were passed around and wine opened, the hassle of getting to that point evaporated like sweat on skin. If, however, you were unfortunate enough to arrive post-5:30 pm there wasn't a plot of grass to be sat upon. There's just no such thing as a free lunch, or concert, as the case may be.
Monday night started out with the Seattle based Head and the Heart (much, much beloved in their Western state of Washington). The warm, folk-rock band played a brief 5 song set, which featured strong vocal harmonies and popular track "Lost in My Mind". The song perfectly paired with Iron and Wine's indie-folk sung tales. Notably, Iron and Wine's (also short 60 minute set) was a lot more up-tempo with a full-band, and a lot less lo-fi, bedroom recording sound the band is known for - but this jives with the band's album progression. Iron and Wine's latest albums Kiss Each Other Clean, and preceding Shepard's Dog feature layered and texturized instrumentation, full bands and projected versus whispered vocals. Iron and Wine lived this statement with Monday night with opening song "Rabbit Will Run"; a rhythmically layered track. And the crowd may have been glad to see Sam Beam's breathy vocals give way to something with more projection. Otherwise, his lyrical story tales may have been lost in the expansively hot Chicago night, amid wine and conversation. That plus Pritzker's great sound system and the full band held their attention, for the most part.
