Missed Beirut and Owen Pallett on Tuesday? It’s happening again tonight, and it’s a must-see

Concertgoers at the Phoenix Concert Theatre received an eclectic, intoxicating one-two punch on Tuesday night, courtesy of Beirut and Owen Pallett. If you’re not much for reading concert reviews, then I humbly suggest you do yourself the favor of clicking those links, listening to the music, falling in love and clearing your evening schedule, because history is going to repeat itself tonight — same time, same venue.

Owen Pallett, formerly Final Fantasy, the one-man band that weaved eccentric, high-concept narratives over pedal-looped violin, has finally, happily, found a touring band. And how. Pallett’s always been a charming performer, capable of putting audiences under hypnosis with his upbeat-incantatory pop hymns, so just picture that with an explosive two-piece rock band adding thrust and muscle. Watching Pallett’s violin work in this environment is visceral; his agile picking and bowing reinvent the instrument, equaling any guitar for impact. And somehow he does it all without compromising his vocal delivery. A whole house sat literally silent through his trapeze act, all eyes watching the man on the wire — not necessarily what you always want at a rock show, but then again, this was not your conventional rock show.

Zach Condon, the 25-year-old orchestrating brain behind Beirut, is a restless soul. Raised by Catholic parents in “unstimulating” Sante Fe, New Mexico, Condon’s dreams were bigger than his bedroom could hold; he dropped out of high school halfway through, went to Europe and came back with big plans. Their fruition is the Beirut ensemble (avec accordion, keys, French horn and dueling trumpets) that’ll haunt the Phoenix for a second time on tonight. This is world music fused to pretty pop, stripped of excess, then fed shots of absinthe until warm.

Readers who have not experienced Beirut are forgiven if they imagine the result as tedious or gimmicky, but as the legions of howling fans that packed the Phoenix on Tuesday will attest, it’s a far cry from. Condon’s troupe is comprised of stoutly professional masters of momentum: big hooks pump the audience from start to finish and the songs find their conclusions at just the right moment. If anything, there were times I found myself looking around after a coda or crescendo, thinking, “I wish they’d rode that melody for a little longer,” but you’ve got to hand it to the boys for leaving the audience wanting more.

And yes, of course, the obvious happened: Pallett joined Condon’s parade of rock and roll misfits onstage for several songs, resulting in total sensory overload for this overly-sensitive music-lover. Don’t have tickets for the Thursday show? That might not be a problem. The National Post reports that the Phoenix released a batch of extra tickets at the door on Tuesday; they may just do the same tonight.

Beirut and Owen Pallet, Phoenix Concert Theatre, Aug. 4

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