|
7/23 Burton Cummings – Winnipeg, MB
Read More7/25 Edmonton Event Centre – Edmonton, AB 7/26 Calgary Folk Music Festival Calgary, AB 7/28 Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, BC 8/28 House of Blues Boston – Boston, MA 8/29 Rumsey Playfield - New York, NY 9/01-9/02 FYF Festival - Los Angeles, CA 9/03 Fox Theater - Oakland CA 9/05 Moore Theatre – Seattle, WA 9/06 McDonald Theatre - Eugene OR 9/07 MusicfestNW - Portland, OR 9/11 Barrlowlands - Glasgow, UK 9/12 Academy - Leeds UK 9/14 Hammersmith HMV – London, UK 9/15 We Love Green Festival – Paris, FR 9/16 Leffinge Lauren – Leffinge, BE 9/18 TonHalle - Munich, DE 9/19 Columbiahalle – Berlin, DE 9/21 Turkcell Kurcesme - Area Istanbul, TR 11/11 Harvest Festival - Melbourne 11/17 Harvest Festival - Sydney 11/18 Harvest Festival - Brisbane Beirut is one of those bands that sort of came out of left field a while ago and took the whole indie music world by storm.
|
The outdoor event featuring Beirut at the Cabooze and opener Little Scream turned out to be as musically satisfying as deathly humid, playing a smattering of songs from the New Mexico bred band’s plethora of LPs and EPs. Band master Zach Condon is no stranger to large crowds, wooing the masses in the sold out plaza Saturday evening.
I arrived during Little Scream’s set, catching a handful of songs. There was certainly anticipation in the air for the headliner as no one in the audience seemed too responsive to Little Scream. After what seemed like an eternity awaiting Beirut, they graced the stage to ecstatic applause from a sweltering crowd. The band seemed very much into playing, with lead singer Condon keeping time by tapping his chest with his hands and the musicianship of the entire band was well above and beyond. There was a transition from bass to upright bass, from trombone to tuba (including a sweet tuba solo from Ben Lanz, a dead ringer for actor Alan Cumming) and Perrin Cloutier moving from keyboards to accordion effortlessly. Condon sounded excellent, occasionally hinting at a wailing Morrissey in the dewy Minneapolis night air. At one point, Condon made note of the fact that the band was playing close to the Triple Rock Social Club, where they first played in Minneapolis, mentioning the club’s delicious food.
“A Sunday Smile” from The Flying Club Cup and “Sante Fe” from The Rip Tide were delightful highlights of the seemingly short 75-minute set. I would have loved to see them play for much longer, but I understand that the weather was not conducive to outdoor marathon performances. Despite all that, the band followed the end of their crowd-pleasing set with a wonderful encore which included “Gulag Orkestar” from the debut album of the same name.
All in all, despite its brevity, Beirut’s moving outdoor show illustrated that this band, comprised of the 26-year-old Condon and primarily of five other members, is a force to be reckoned with and listen to.
I arrived during Little Scream’s set, catching a handful of songs. There was certainly anticipation in the air for the headliner as no one in the audience seemed too responsive to Little Scream. After what seemed like an eternity awaiting Beirut, they graced the stage to ecstatic applause from a sweltering crowd. The band seemed very much into playing, with lead singer Condon keeping time by tapping his chest with his hands and the musicianship of the entire band was well above and beyond. There was a transition from bass to upright bass, from trombone to tuba (including a sweet tuba solo from Ben Lanz, a dead ringer for actor Alan Cumming) and Perrin Cloutier moving from keyboards to accordion effortlessly. Condon sounded excellent, occasionally hinting at a wailing Morrissey in the dewy Minneapolis night air. At one point, Condon made note of the fact that the band was playing close to the Triple Rock Social Club, where they first played in Minneapolis, mentioning the club’s delicious food.
“A Sunday Smile” from The Flying Club Cup and “Sante Fe” from The Rip Tide were delightful highlights of the seemingly short 75-minute set. I would have loved to see them play for much longer, but I understand that the weather was not conducive to outdoor marathon performances. Despite all that, the band followed the end of their crowd-pleasing set with a wonderful encore which included “Gulag Orkestar” from the debut album of the same name.
All in all, despite its brevity, Beirut’s moving outdoor show illustrated that this band, comprised of the 26-year-old Condon and primarily of five other members, is a force to be reckoned with and listen to.
Beirut at Cabooze, Minneapolis (07/21/12) |
