Concert Review: Beirut Composes To Life In Music At Brooklyn Steel

Beirut’s show made me feel like a marionette. As if I am simply journeying through mishaps and daydreams with a sharpening grace. At Brooklyn Steel, the group made an entire crowd leap and clap for the most eclectic music you will hear from a band.

Beirut is one of my favorite bands of all time. Zach Condon’s voice drupes and drips over songs like a water over a painting; turning the rich sounds behind him into abstracts elaborating human plight. “When I Die,” “In The Mausoleum,” and “Family Curse” displayed Beirut’s capacity to take a down heart and uplift it through a horn section. Yet, strangely enough, the nuanced morbidity you might find in a Beirut record becomes light-hearted, throughout the show, for something I call the “Mozart” effect.

Have you ever felt like running when you heard Mozart or club-dancing to Chopin? If I am the only one then bear with me because that is what Beirut did to that crowd;  Condon’s voice made them want to move through sounds that are not typically defined as danceable or even mainstream. Yet, the band’s arrangements prove imagination makes a person move. They treat their concert like a music box, the minute it opens you are a twirling ballerina stilled into place. For them, it was as if every beat was, actually, the quality of a person. 

From “Santa Fe” to “Scenic World,” songs ranged from funky to fair and even had a little polka in them. Yet, their works’ concept was beautiful because they made every rhythm feel like a personality, which made every song feel like a person. The idea that every person is a song is not new, but Beirut’s packed show proved people are more ranging and open to an orchestrated sound than accredited. After all, Beirut are known for their cinematic compositions, which they have transferred under the semblance of a casual band of guys. For More Information On Beirut Click Here.