hooves on the turf

The magical experience of Beirut is under the threat of annoying Zach-Condon-worshipping female fans- not all female fans, of course not, but there is a lot willing to shamelessly steal other people’s front row spots and openly offer themselves to Zach. The latter is excusable, though irritating (depending on the delivery/person), but pushing and shoving, trampling over each other even, as they did towards the end, to simply grab the set list from Zach was disturbing. Needless to say, I am also not a fan of continuous yelling of messages at the band, though half of these are usually fun. But people get carried away sometimes. One girl actually yelled, “You cancelled last year” (a band member responded by joking, “Security!”). New York is the only US city getting a Beirut treat at this time of the year when all other dates are non-US. Two fans next to me had driven all the way from Balitmore, and there seemed to be other out-of-towners, too, and I, for one, am thankful that these three dates were rescheduled. That they went to the trouble of bringing Gulag Okestar out, that they have Final Fantasy with them this time, that the performance was worth all the trouble fans have to go through and so on.

(Photos and review continue after the jump)

Beirut, in any case, was stunning. Everyone delivered. Owen Pallett joined them for what seemed like more than half the set. One new song in collaboration with him was revealed. Someone pressed Zach to share when the album might be coming out, and he said September, around which time they’re also scheduled to play Wordless Music Series.

A smaller line-up consisting of core members played first, then a larger group that included Owen and others, and finally, for the first encore, the amazing Gular Orkestar*, which included members of Arcade Fire, all out with barely enough space on the Bowery stage.

*I saw Richard Reed Parry, and I thought I saw Will Butler, the younger brother, plus one of the violinists. I could be wrong. UPDATE: I did see Will Butler (and Tim Kingsbury).

Related:

• Final Fantasy at Bowery – photos + review