james mercer of the shins, performing last night at the showbox; more photos of the shins & the delta spirit [flickr]

It’s the second night the Shins at the Showbox. Bless them for choosing to do two night engagement at the smaller Showbox rather than the larger, less appealing, SoDo version. I’d forgotten just how great the original (”at the market”) was for shows: even for last night’s sold out performance it rarely felt overstuffed. The Delta Spirit, looking incredibly comfortable onstage and sounding nothing like I imagined San Diego, opened with a shortish set that often found a majority of their members contributing to the percussion section, banging away on trash can lids and shaking maracas while frontman Matthew Vasquez energetically held down vocals and harmonica in a vaguely CYHSY way, except with more intelligible words and soul.

The Shins, sporting a reshuffled lineup — with Eric Johnson from the Fruit Bats on keys, former Grand Archiver Ron Lewis on bass, and (according stereogum commenters [#]) Joe Plummer on drums. Missing was Marty Crandall, which meant that there were 100% fewer undergarments thrown onto the stage, but the talented roster played through a darkly reworked collection of songs spanning the band’s recording history; notably breaking out “Sphagnum Esplanade” and “Weird Divide” from the deep and beloved back catalog. In particular, moodier songs like first set closer “Those to Come”, made use of the talented lineup with backup vocals, but unlike many other big harmony acts like labelmates Fleet Foxes, you get the sense that Mercer and company want the twisty lyrics to sting just a little bit.

If you can brave the rain, hit the sidewalks early to find someone with an extra ticket.

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Also sold out is Iron & Wine’s second night in support of Around the Well, a two disc collection of rarities, out of print, and unreleased songs — including the hard-to-buy unless you’re willing to purchase the In Good Company soundtrack “Trapeze Swinger”. The big show moves from Vera to the Triple Door, which seems like almost the most ideal possible venue for Sam Beam. However, if you didn’t get tickets and don’t want to press your luck (all tickets were will-call and are non-transferrable), line-up at the Capitol Hill Sonic Boom to catch the free in-store performance at 6 pm.