Iron and Wine, Leeds Met, 17 March 2011

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Sam Bream. At first glance, one of the unlikeliest folk songs, complete with stage shuffling and huge beard. There he stood, at Leeds Met University, standing in the shadows of his own stage. And then the band started, and Kiss Each Other Clean began to ascend. The sound was stronger/louder than the records, the live brass section and percussion giving greater weight to the poetry of Iron and Wine. 


By the time ‘Walking Far From Home’, which had been heavily played on 6 Music, began it was a genuinely touching moment to see Bream’s visible reaction to the hall singing back his own words before the first verse had even begun. For my money it was one of those nights when an under-the-radar band went from belonging to the die-hards to transcending to a band for all, destined for success.


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