'Zach Condon of Beirut is unable to perform tonight due to unfortunate personal circumstances'. This was a pretty big disappointment and we wish Zach well. However the night was far from lost. Oh no.
Energetic Kid Harpoon endeared himself to the warm crowd, who already had a good-humoured family atmosphere going on. (Maybe that's what Beirut fans are like in the face of collective misfortune.) His lyrics - 'Follow me my pretty things / There's an evil needle in this haystack' - had a (in Russell Brand speak) childlike purity. A skilled acoustic guitarist.
Then A Hawk and a Hacksaw - Jeremy Barnes (drummer from Neutral Milk Hotel) and Heather Trost (violin). Well, wow. Pretty early on I decided this was what The Pixies meant by planet of sound. Between Heather's violin and Jeremy's: accordion, jangle hat with drumstick for hitting the snare, foot mastery of the remaining drum kit and solemnly belted-out choruses, it was a riotous swelling of gypsy-like noise from the word go. After a completely absorbing set, with a very moving highlight in Portlandtown, the rest of Beirut crammed onto the stage with AHAAH for a half hour or more, relieving Jeremy at the drums and bringing tambourine, cello, guitar, oboe, lusty voices and organised mayhem. For the encore the cute one in the green jumper announced something like 'A Hawk and a Hacksaw are a band of the people so we're gonna come and sing with the people' and down they came (admittedly, not far) and bashed their instruments and wailed their choruses with us. Now I can't imagine a time... startled as I was when I first heard it... before Beirut and AHAAH brought us the wonder of the Balkan orchestra.
Venue:
The LuminaireBand websites:
A Hawk and a HacksawMyspace:
A Hawk and a Hacksaw (myspace),
Kid Harpoon (myspace)Pitchfork reviews:
Gulag Orkestar (Beirut)Darkness at Noon (A Hawk and a Hacksaw)
