MOG

The Iron & Wine show last night was nothing short of incredible. It was our first visit to The Palladium Ballroom in Dallas, and I really liked the venue. The space had good sound, friendly staff, multiple bars, a nice floor layout with plenty of room, and it was also easy to get to.
Arthur and Yu opened, and they were a perfect compliment to Iron & Wine. I wish Sonya's vocals would have been mixed a little higher, as it was sometimes hard to hear her over the instrumentation. They played great versions of the songs from their album, 'In Camera', including 'Come to View'.
Sam Beam complained about having a cold that he picked up while in Seattle, but nobody would have been the wiser if he had not confessed. His voice was like melted butter, as always, and he really put it to good use showcasing his songwriting talents. The backing band (I counted 8 people in all) included a drummer along with a percussionist, as well as a wicked-awesome pedal steel guitarist. While 'Naked As We Came' was left off of the setlist, they did cover the whole Iron & Wine catalog from early works to their most recent album. The high point for my wife and I (and likely everyone else based on the number of tears I saw as we left the venue) was the single song encore that featured 'The Trapeze Swinger'. Gorgeous and profound eulogizing lyrics paired only with some acoustic guitar strumming made this a heart-wrenching rendition that capped off the evening like nothing else.