Review by Dave Anastasi

"It sure is a packed house for a couple ukuleles," Zach Condon remarked, giving his band of multi-instrumentalists a well-deserved 20 second breather. For the first time in the set, I unglued my eyes from the stage and looked around. Wow. He's right.

There was plenty of standing room in the club during the three opening acts, Shepherdess, The Curtains, and Get Him Eat Him, but evidently that space had disappeared once Beirut took the stage.

Those openers were decent, but the room was filled with intense anticipation, which only grew stronger when Beirut's stage was being set up, and the instruments were being brought out one by one: three ukes, two mandolins, two trumpets, cornet, flugelhorn, euphonium, accordian, cello, violin, clarinet, baritone sax, glockenspiel, keyboard, drumset, and a bevy of percussion implements. Each instrument was played and heard, helping make Beirut's show at the Middle East one of the top concert experiences of my life.

I know, that sounds a bit sensationalistic, and it is only the day after, but I think it's true. It was the most fun I've ever had at a concert. It was a pure celebration of music and life. I've never experienced anything like it in America.

Zach and company kicked things off with The Gulag Orkestar, the opening track from his fantastic debut album, and it was immediately evident that, although that album was written and recorded almost entirely by Condon, he has surrounded himself with some fantastic musicians for this tour. The band plays with so much heart and emotion, that it feels like they wrote every note together. Twenty minutes into the set, the stage floor was covered with sweat and empty water bottles, and the band's intensity and excitement was intoxicating. The audience was singing, dancing, clapping, jumping, and shaking tambourines passed around by the band.

The Middle East Downstairs certainly isn't known for pristine sound, and I have heard reports that the mix that night was terrible. Fortunately, my wife and I arrived at the club early enough to get a spot right in front of the stage. So, we had the luxury of enjoying the sounds pouring directly out of the instruments rather than the venue's pedestrian PA system. The music sounded great from our vantage point.

Brandenburg, Postcards From Italy, Scenic World, and After The Curtain were the highlights for me, matching (and in some ways eclipsing) their counterparts on the album. They must have put a great deal of time into reworking the arrangements, because each song they played from the album sounded very distinctive in the live format. And, the half dozen or so songs that were new to me show a lot of promise for Condon's future releases.

So, next time Beirut comes to town, do yourself a favor and see them. If you love music, you will not be disappointed.

UPDATE: According to Beirut's MySpace page, they're coming back to Boston on September 16th for a show at Boston University.