Andrew Bird and Iron & Wine Charm The Pews Of The Ryman Auditorium (SHOW REVIEW)

As was pointed out by both the bands and fans alike throughout the course of the evening, Nashville is in the South and it’s freaking hot. The simple act of lifting a can of cold beer to your lips can cause your body to sweat the same amount it would in a Bikram Yoga class. Add this to the fact that in order to get to the Ryman Auditorium these days you have to make your way through Nashville’s latest version of “Broadway” – a dark “country” music Disney World bachelorette party where the smell of sweat, spilled booze and urine are as thick in the air as the unrelenting, cacophonous symphony of bro-country, pop-punk, commercial country, and a depressingly small smidge of honky tonk assaulting your ears all at once. From establishments with names like “Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse” – you have to give a lot of credit to the nearly sold out crowd that sweated it out and made it to the welcoming (air-conditioned) arms of the Mother Church. 

All that being said, once inside it was worth every sweaty, muggy moment. The Ryman has a generally laid-back feel, a helpful staff, and plenty of vendors to keep the lines moving fast to get you back to your seat in the pews without missing a note. All this leaves the mind free to take in and feel the history seeping through the walls of the revered venue. Walking in to see a show there from the audience’s perspective feels like you’re about to see something special, so one could only imagine how artists feel when they take to the stage standing on those hallowed floorboards to look out over the crowd. Combine this with the updated sound system (noted by Andrew Bird during his set) and you have a venue built in 1892 that’s still spry as a spring chicken. 

After a short and well-received opening set from German-American singer-songwriter and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello that injected some serious mojo into the old pews through deep, synth and bass-driven grooves, it was time for Iron and Wine to take the stage. The curtains came up to reveal a small, glowing rural town existing on stage in perpetual twilight with a little bit of space carved out in the middle for a solo Sam Beam and a few guitars. The New Order song, “Love Vigilantes” made for a spirited opener to say “hi” and shake the bugs out, if there were any bugs to shake out, to begin with. Beam seemed perfectly relaxed and at home, as the self-proclaimed “Songzilla” in his tiny luminescent village as he began cracking the first in what would be many self-deprecating and endearing jokes throughout the evening to remind the crowd that they’re all there for a good time and that, perhaps, a person’s dramatic songwriting isn’t always as serious as the listener thinks.  

 The haunting minor groove of “On Your Wings”, juxtaposed by Beam’s almost celestially smooth vocal delivery, came next to continue a set that spanned all of Iron and Wine’s prolific career up to this point. A perfect combination of outsized charm, more than capable guitar playing, and a powerful, soaring voice that could seemingly do no wrong came together to make complex arrangements like Kiss Each Other Clean’s “Rabbit Will Run” sound surprising full in a solo acoustic setting and right at home next to the sparse, mainly acapella rendition of “Flightless Bird, American Mouth”. After the performance of “Father Mountain” brought on another fun and self-deprecating story about bugging Calexico to cut an album with him, Beam finished out his confident and thoroughly engaging set with “Call it Dreaming”, a self-described attempt at a “happy” song off of 2017’s Beast Epic

As the stage plots changed throughout the night, there was a double trunked elephant in the room and that was a fixture throughout the night and that was the spinning horn speakers set atop a stack of amps in the middle of the stage. Looking like a giant, double phonograph sprouting from the ground in a Seussian manner, the speakers have been a staple piece of Andrew Bird’s stage setup since around 2009. The set began with the sight of them spinning to the sound of Bird’s signature pizzicato loops and expressive violin wails as the band kicked off the set with “Make a Picture” off this year’s Inside Problems. The upbeat tune soon gave way to the moodier “Lone Didion”, another new song that perfectly captures the clever, precise, and slightly ironic writing style of its namesake. 

Bird’s mastery of the violin was on display through the entire night, at one minute sounding almost like a steel drum on “Atomized” to harmonizing with itself on the layered extended intro to the soul-tinged crowd favorite “Bloodless”. After picking up the guitar to lead his band of world-class musicians through old hits like “Sisyphus” and recent lyrical highlight “Underlands”, it was time for what turned out to be the most endearing portion of the night when Sam Beam walked back on stage to join Bird and company for what felt like a good old fashioned living room jam session at the from of the stage. 

The guest appearance started as a duo performance and, after playfully teasing “Just the Two of Us”, the two set out on a down-home performance of Bird’s “Orpheo Looks Back” and a refreshing, old-timey rendition of Iron and Wine’s “Muddy Hymnal”. The band joined in towards the front of the stage for a lighthearted and crooked smile-filled “Left Handed Kisses”, a duet originally recorded by Andrew Bird and Fiona Apple, and a dynamic arrangement of Iron and Wine’s “Low Light Buddy of Mine”. To close out the guest appearance, the two seasoned songwriters traded verses on “Strangers”, arguably one of the most poetic and endearing songs in the entire gem-filled Kinks’ catalog. 

The rest of the evening saw Andrew Bird and Company navigate the singer-songwriter’s already expansive career with elegance and skill. Old standbys like “Pulaski at Night” and “Three White Horses” cozied up perfectly in the setlist to newcomers like “Never Fall Apart”. When it comes to artists like Iron and Wine and Andrew Bird, it’s evident that they aren’t satisfied to sit back on their haunches and roll out the hit parade. Their catalogs are ever-evolving, breathing, living things that are constantly being built up by vibrant new additions that can easily turn into tomorrow’s crowd favorites. As the standing ovation from the pews of the Ryman Auditorium showed, the crowd in attendance appreciated this fact and gave credit where credit was due. 

Live Photo by Tommy Alexander


Andrew Bird Setlist Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN, USA, Outside Problems Tour 2022

 

 
Iron & Wine Setlist Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN, USA, Outside Problems Tour 2022

 

 

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