Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop bring the warmth at End of the Road Festival
Iron & Wine's Sam Beam and experimental folk artist Jesca Hoop would both be strong choices for End of the Road at any point. When performing together, however, they're about as perfect an afternoon set for the festival as possible.
Under a solid white sky and occasional sheets of rain, the pair performed tracks from their 2016 album, Love Letter for Fire, on the festival's leafy Garden stage. They also included their favourite picks from the other's body of work, including 'Belated Promise Ring' from Beam's, a brand new track from Hoop's, and a small handful of covers, including Eurythmics' 'Love is a Stranger'.
As on their record, the pairing of Hoop's brave vocal range with Beam's soft tones is powerful, with the sweet harmonies creating an immediately timeless sound over the deep twanging of Beam's low-tuned acoustic guitar. The set was made all the more believable by the pair's onstage banter, which saw them playfully needling each other, inviting the audience to "out-mellow" one another to the softer songs, and Hoop get into a brief spoken sparring match with a parent concerned about her "cussing" in front of the kids present.
This was followed by a wholly unexpected display: two macaws (ah, End of the Road) flying over the show to an enormous 'woah', quickly shitting on the audience, to which Beam exclaimed "that's some karmic shit right there," chuckling, "I must say, it's fun to be upstaged by a bird's turd."
The set closed with sincere thanks from the two – particularly Hoop, who thanked the audience for "standing in the cold to what is not exactly dance music. Hopefully it kept you warm in some way."
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