Last night (Tuesday) Santa Fe native and Brooklyn resident Zach Condon swept a sold out crowd into the palm of his hand and with little more than musical gestures drew love from the furthest reaches of Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall. To say that the 1,100 in attendance adored Condon and his band Beirut would be an understatement and by the shows midway point the polite crowd needed only the beckoning arm of accordionist, Perrin Cloutier, to quickly clamber onto the wide Music Hall stage. The easy favourite of the crowd was the song “Postcards From Italy” off of the band’s debut full length Gulag Orkestar. The song’s opening strains lifted a spontaneous roar from the crowd, the type of roar which is often heard at an Arcade Fire show. And surprise, surprise, a member of the Arcade Fire camp and key contributor to Beirut’s upcoming album, The Flying Club Cup, Owen Pallet, aka Final Fantasy, at one point bounded onto the stage to sing the lovely “Cliqout” from that new record. Pallet’s voice has strengthened from his touring and recording; you could hear it in his live performance and on the album. Condon has also improved greatly as a vocalist and I think at least half of that can be attributed to confidence. But you’ve got to be confident to stand up as a 21 year old and croon the lovely sepia melodies that he writes. The band’s performance was also strong and took off in an inspired direction when the crowd began to dance and Cloutier then summoned a large number of them onto the stage alongside the band. It was a memorable show well worth the lumpy upper balcony seat that I had to endure.Check further tour dates here.
From The Flying Club Cup (due in stores October 9th) Pre-Order
the penalty [mp3]
From Gulag Orkestar
mount wroclai (idle days) [mp3]
postcards from italy [mp3]
From Lon Gisland EP
elephant gun [mp3]
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