Philzone.org - Philzone Phansite Community Discussion Board: Setlists and Reviews: Non GD Related Reviews: Archive: Sam Beam 2007-02-10 - Messiah College (Central PA)

First show seeing Sam Beam, whether with Iron & Wine, with Calecixo or solo - acoustic show with his friend Rob on guitar/keys at small college (2500 students from what I was told) auditorium - sound was good despite a kind of cavernous setting - as suggested by a few zoners, he has a great presence on stage with a disarming humor that cools off the all too common over zealous audience member with a need to interact with the performer.

I cannot recall all of the music but he performed beautifully for 75 minutes or so - tunes included:

Sodom South Georgia, He Lays In The Reins, Jezebel, The Trapeeze Swinger and Upward Over The Mountain (encore); the only song that I was hoping to hear that I did not was An Angry Blade.

He also did about 5 or 6 new songs (all terrific) from a disc entitled The Shepard's Dog to come out this fall - once again, do not recall all the names but included Peace Beneath The City, Carousel and a spellbinding tune called A Boy With A Coin.

Good to see singer-songwriters like he and Jose Gonzalez and Richard Shindell are still able to make a living making music oft overlooked by the masses.