Live Review: Beirut – Sydney Opera House (05.01.12)

Last in the country in March 2008 for Golden Plains, Beirut have received nothing short of a hero’s welcome on their return almost five years, and one album, later. They’ve made a slight upgrade of venues between visits, too, moving up from the 600-or-so capacity Manning Bar to the Sydney Opera House. Not bad. But I think no one was more surprised than the band itself, often not quite sure what to do with the excitable sold out crowd in front of them.

With his trumpet still in its case, Zach Condon walked on stage with his band and a simple “Hello Sydney”, jumping straight into “Scenic World” off of their debut full length, Gulag Orkestar. One of the highlights of the show came next, with the epic accordion and brass of “The Shrew” – all that were missing were the Mariachi dancers. Or even a dancing crowd, for that matter. Have a listen to the track below.

Zach switched instruments throughout the set – from the trumpet to the ukulele and over to the piano for the beautiful “Goshen”. And he wasn’t the only one jumping between them… this is one versatile group of (still) young musicians, who jammed out an equal splattering of tracks from all three studio albums, as well as tracks like “The Shrew” which have only been featured on live recordings, and are definitely party starters in that respect.

“Vagabond”, “Sunday Smile”, “Nantes”, “Port of Call” were among the many highlights of the set, with “Santa Fe” ending the main set, ahead of the first of two standing ovations. Zach returned to the stage solo with his ukulele for “The Penalty” before the rest of the band returned for three songs, ending with the crowd favourite “The Gulag Orkestar”. It would be hard to say what was a crowd favourite and what wasn’t, however, with the crowd cheering on just about every song he played. He definitely has his fans, and his fans definitely have their favourite songs – much as was the case at Fleet Foxes earlier in the week.

Musically, the material off The Rip Tide, their latest record, shined the brightest. It shows a band who has taken their experiences over the last 6 or so years and placed it all into a solid and mature record, which translates beautifully live.

All this said, I’ve always thought there was something lacking from a Beirut show, versus a Beirut record. Maybe a violin, maybe a flute… there’s only so much brass these ears can handle. But the fact they command the crowd in the way they do with what they do use is both a testament to their devout fans and the quality of the music they produce. And in the acoustics of the Sydney Opera House, it sounded even better. A venue I can guarantee you they never would have expected to play. Nor their parents, with Zach’s family flying all the way to Australia just to experience this once-in-a-lifetime performance. But given the reaction tonight, I daresay they’ll be back. Maybe with a full orchestra? Now there’s something to rattle your brains with.

The show ended with one of the most awkward exits I’ve seen from a band. Perhaps I should reword that: it was adorable. They just didn’t know what to do with the sight before them. Stunned by one of the biggest standing ovations I have ever seen at the venue, they looked at each other like confused children, motioning to each other as to whether or not they should bow. A few bowed, the rest looked on like deer in headlights, at which point this amazing band scurried off into the night. Where do they go from here? Well as was suggested by the band on the night, maybe next time they need to play the venue five times just so they can one up Fleet Foxes. Touche.

Larry Heath

Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.