Gig played on 23/04/06

As a gig, this was a strange upside down experience: starting with what feels like the main event before winding down with the support band. A tasty sandwich, but with the filling on the outside.

On the face of it, a hook up between Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, and Calexico is a mouth-watering proposition: one of America's most celebrated independent singer songwriters making sweet music with the finest modern purveyors of spaghetti western Texicana. Their collaborative EP, "In The Reins", is a fine and beautiful collection, only bettered by the sonically ornate output of Sufjan Stevens. But if you turned up late tonight, you'd be kicking yourself hard.

Over the course of a three-hour show, this dream ticket unfurls at snails pace, with the bush-bearded Beam playing a batch of solo material (including a wonderful opening salvo of "Sodom, South Georgia", "Cinder And Smoke" and "Resurrection Fern") before members of Calexico gradually join the fray. The set concludes with half the aforementioned EP - Beam's whispered hush of a voice soundtracked wonderfully by pedal steel, trumpets and dusty rolling drums.

It's been a stunning first half, but following a short interlude courtesy of Salvador Duran (Calexico's in-house mariachi man) it's downhill all the way. Promoting their latest and most linear album "Garden Ruin", Calexico are, to put it bluntly, a huge disappointment. Whereas earlier releases, "The Black Light" and "Hot Rail" relied upon careful instrumental flourishes (such as the flamenco-driven "El Picador", still their best known three-minutes) their new song-driven material just doesn't catch fire.

It might be the fault of a docile London crowd (who frontman Joey Burns gently rebukes for their politeness), but Calexico simply don't carry the weight of personality normally afforded to headliners. Burns himself, a fantastic instrumentalist, possesses what Simon Cowell might describe as a backing singer's voice. He can carry a tune but has neither the stage presence to make it stick, nor the charisma to make you care. A version of Love's "Alone Again Or" verges on the karaoke.

The accompanying music is as widescreen as you'd expect, but, in this context, veers close to the middle of the road. At times, you could be watching the Dave Matthews Band, or any number of beard-stroking musos and the soporific slide is only halted with the reappearance of Beam for an encore of "He Lays In The Reins". Soaring on the back of Duran's impassioned vocal refrain, it's easily tonight's high point and followed by a hypnotic take on The Velvet Underground's "All Tomorrow's Parties".

Even this is not enough to wipe memories of the previous hour. With Beam in tow, Calexico sound unstoppable. Left to their own devices, they're simply a backing band in search of a singer.

by Adam Webb