Monday 25/06/07 Beirut @ Queen Elizabeth Hall foyer, London

Just a couple days after taking stage at Glastonbury Festival, Beirut man Zach Condon and his band are setting up their instruments and sound checking in the front room of the Queen Elizabeth Hall foyer in the Southbank area of London.  If you think that sounds random and surprising, that’s because it is.  Just days before, 4AD, Beirut’s record label, e-mailed their newsletter subscribers directions to the impromptu gig that would precede his sold out appearance at KOKO the night after.  Directions in the e-mail were vague and cryptic: “Meet at the water structure outside the Royal Festival Hall at 6pm sharp.  From there you will be lead to the secret location at which Beirut will play.” Very mysterious.

At 6pm sharp, as directed, a sea of hipsters wander around cluelessly in front of the Royal Festival Hall, waiting to be ushered to the secret location.  A few moments later it’s realised that the doors to the Queen Elizabeth Hall are covered in Beirut posters advertising the gig there. By the time we show up, there’s barely a seat left in the foyer.  In fact, there aren’t any.  Picture a café-esque area with a bar and a small 2-ft.-tall stage.  People are sitting at the tables, standing around the back of the room, even sitting on the floor in front of the stage.  Considering the fact that Beirut is to play a sold-out KOKO the next night, this is one hell of a find for anyone lucky enough to have heard about the gig.

At 6:10 the band finish their sound check and retreat to who knows where.  At 6:30 they re-emerge onto the stage.  After a thank-you and we’re-happy-to-be-here, Zach proclaims, “This is a traditional song,” diving into ‘The Long Island Sound’ from his latest EP, ‘Lon Gisland’.  Since the set is acoustic, it takes some getting used to, as the sound in the foyer isn’t exactly, well, KOKO.  But after messing with the volume levels, it sounds just about right.

Finishing the first song and having warmed up to the relatively minuscule crowd, violinist Kristin Ferebee steps off the stage and into the audience, preparing to offer her soft, sweet violin melodies to the audience in a much closer way. She accidentally drops her bow on one of the audience members, who catches it and smiles; Zach sarcastically says to the bow-stricken woman, “No, no, you can’t keep that.  We need that.”  And with this, they dive into new song ‘The Penalty’.  Everyone in the band slowly start tapping their feet to the rhythm, gradually getting louder, eventually stomping loudly enough to be the actual percussion for the song. 

Next comes ‘Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)’ off the amazing Gulag Orkestar album.  Throughout the evening Beirut perform tune after tune of indie folk goodness.  Perhaps the best song of the set is ‘Postcards from Italy’ during which the playful band all start having a genuinely fun time, goofing around on stage and being comfortable, ultimately inviting the audience onto the stage.  By the end of the song the band are surrounded by adoring fans, and both Beirut and the listeners are loving it. Following ‘After the Curtain’ the band huddle together and we hear the muffled words of a discussion on what to play next.  Finally all of their heads nod in agreement, and Zach faces the audience with a pleased look on his face.  “If you know the lyrics to this, sing along.”  They launch into ‘Elephant Song’.

During the first song of the encore, half the band end up in the audience, playing their instruments.  Capping the truly intimate evening off with the title track from ‘Gulag Orkestar’, they leave the audience with warm, touched smiles plastered across our faces.