What’s on in Sydney New South Wales – Beirut

Beirut will bring their world-weary indie-folk to the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on Thursday 5 January.

At the heart of Beirut’s unstoppable rise is the ability to combine a wide variety of musical styles – Balkan folk, French chanson, American indie and Mexican funeral songs – with founding member/songwriter, Zac Condon’s, stunning voice and beautifully written melodies.
Live, their diverse instrumentation of accordion, keyboards, saxophone, clarinet, mandolin, ukulele, horns, glockenspiel and percussion paired with Condon’s distinctive low croon is genuinely spine-tingling. Delivering a rich sound that is contemporary yet timeless, Beirut will have you swaying on your feet in no time.

With full Beirut band, Condon will perform songs including those from their stunning third full-length release, 2011’s The Rip Tide (Pompeii Records/Remote Control).

Lyrically and musically, The Rip Tide has garnered much acclaim. With stand-out tracks including the pristine bouncy synths on ‘Sante Fe’ and the yearning emotion of ‘Goshen’, it is evident that Condon has crafted his most intricate, intimate album yet, with indelible songs that are their most accessible to date.

Something of a musical prodigy in love with travel, Condon started out making one-man D.I.Y bedroom recordings playing multiple instruments, culminating in his 2006 debut album Gulag Orkestra. From the smallest blogs to mainstream media, critical acclaim soon followed, pegging him as a one-man cross between Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel), Conor Oberst and Sufjan Stevens. Soon after the EP Lon Gisland followed in 2007, leading up to the full-length The Flying Club Cup later that year.

Who: Beirut
When: Thursday 5 January 2012 8 pm
Where: Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall
Tickets: $49 – 70 (Insiders members $39.20 – $63.20)