Beirut - Great American Music Hall - 10/20/06

Damn, Beirut is good. Maybe it's because they are young and haven't been jaded by the constant touring needed to support a fringe indie-rock band, but Beirut is still willing to comply to fans' requests and still enjoy performing. This has been one of the best shows of the past year, with lots of energy, a few surprises, and a crowd that was putty in the muscular hands of Zach Condon and his Orkestar.

When I saw them in Cambridge, MA, back in June, they still had their training wheels on. But now that they're playing places like Great American, and bringing their Eastern-European influenced rock to the masses (by the way, did anyone catch Siki, Siki Baba in Borat?). From adorable Kristen to cracked-out Paul, the band has a lot of personality and it comes through during the performance.

As they pushed through a lot of their album material, they pleased every person around me (and presumably everyone in the place, it felt like I knew about half the people at the show, too many to name). But the reason people will be talking about this show a year from now is that the encores were impromptu, having members jump into the audience. They tried to close the night with their version of Siki, Siki Baba, with half the band in the audience playing trumpets toward the ceiling. But the crowd demanded more. They came back to play one more song, Carousels, and it looked like they wanted to keep playing all night, but Zach proclaimed, "We have no more songs" before leaving the stage for good.

Please buy the album, go to the shows, and tell your friends about Beirut. We need more music and more musicians like this.

Beruit - Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)

Beirut - Postcards From Italy

Beirut - Siki, Siki Baba (live in Cambridge, MA) Read the excellent review at Bradley's Almanac and download the whole set.