Beirut @ Queen Elizabeth Halls Foyer

I've only really got into Beirut's debut album in the past 3 or 4 weeks, before that i just didn't get it. Postcards From Italy made sense to me and i loved it but the rest of the album just never fell into place for me. The tone of the music has a paradoxical element to it where it can be both upbeat and melancholic simultaneously which messed with my head and the instrument that drives most of the songs is the accordion which my musical ear was unfamiliar with so it didn't work for me but there has been so much adoration for Zac Condon and his merry players in the blog-o-sphere that i felt i had to make a conserved effort to understand why.
The opportunity arised when Zac and co. announced a free concert on London's South Bank, sandwiched between their set at Glasto and their Koko show and so i dragged a few friends along. The foyer in the Queen Elizabeth Halls was jam-packed - everyone loves freebies - so we couldn't get the best view but it turned out it didn't matter as the exuberance and confidence from the young musicians filled the room.
Unluckily the sound and mix of the performance wasn't perfect, meaning parts of songs and certain instruments, particularly the violin, were drowned out on occasions and the crowd were the usual London type of static, dreary types but the band seemed unconcerned, all smiles and passion.
Highlights of the set were Postcards From Italy, Elephant Gun, the moment the horns burst in on Mount Wroclai and a new song that i missed the name of, all these and every song they played were greeted with rapturous applause and it was during this set that it all made sense, i can't explain it, but after seeing them live it now all seems to fit into place. I wish it had happened sooner.

Beirut - Postcards From Italy
Beirut - Mount Wroclai

Thanks go to Three Pink Monkeys who let me use a photo of hers as my camera turned out to bee useless as i forgot to put the memory card in it.