Beirut

Tripod, Dublin

My word but the Tripod is packed tonight. It says something for the power of the Internet and word of mouth these days that a 21-year old American indie boy can play a bastardised form of Balkan folk music to 1300 people far from home after just one album and no mainstream exposure. But that’s exactly what Zach Condon and his merry band are doing, and most of the crowd is in the palm of their hands tonight. The exception, sad to say, is the noisy bastards at the bar, so it’s just as well that Zach is pissed and merry too. Indeed as he staggers on and takes seemingly forever to find a plectrum for his ukulele, many present are wondering if any kind of show at all is to follow. We needn’t worry, as though Condon is incoherent between songs, his rich voice soars where it’s supposed to, as does his trumpet. And his chops are largely matched by his band of contemporaries, each of which is at least as nerdily dishevelled as he is.

The romantic sway of Beirut’s songs is intact from the records, but the gritty, dirt-under-the-fingernails quality is increased, and this only adds to the charm. Songs are built on drums and up to three ukuleles, with brass, violin, woodwind, guitar and voice being layered on top. With such a limited back catalogue, most of Condon’s debut album ‘Gulag Orkestar’ and the ‘Lon Gisland’ EP get an outing, highlights being the stately ‘The Gulag Orkestar’ and the truly affecting ‘Mount Wroclai’. By now triumphant after the unsteady start, the show takes a turn for the farcical as Zach comes out alone for a second encore and stumbles through a version of the Cohen/Buckley/Wainwright standard ‘Hallelujah’ backed only with a ukulele. The fact that he’s forgotten the words and has to keep asking the audience at the start of every verse how it goes matters not a jot - it sends everyone away as merry as he obviously is.

Words_Chris Jones

Issue #51 - I Told You This Would Be A Good Issue

Featuring Biffy Clyro, Of Montreal, Duke Special, Frightened Rabbit, Cold War Kids, Jay Reatard, Pat Mills, and more.