Eating my Borscht-Flavored Words

Not to trip over my own feet too quickly, but I never really said I had a problem with Beirut. I was more offended by the fact that some guy came out of nowhere while I had stepped away for a second and became an indie sensation. I think the album is interesting and has at least one excellent track, but has yet to really blow me away yet. The songs were much more impressive live, however. The solitary trumpet stands out so much more, and watching this kid swap between that and his ukulele mid song was great to watch. Probably most important was that the music finally had my full attention. Whether it's a fault of the band or my awful attention span I've yet to figure out, but listening to it in the background while I set up my new computer or edit a database at work did not leave me with much of an impression at all. With all my attention on stage, watching the songs develop and play out as they do seemed much more on point.

Following them were Sunset Rubdown, who sounded even better than they did in LA a few weeks earlier. Opening with a solo 'I Believe in Anything' most likely was an effort to cut off the know-it-all requestors at the pass. When someone asked for it in LA, Krug deadpanned "We haven't played that song since we recorded it." After 3 weeks of hearing the same request, he most likely just wanted to get it out of the way to avoid the focus being taken off the rest of the band and their work, which is of course nothing short of stunning.

Krug seemed to enjoy himself the most as the keyboardist in Frog Eyes. He, for the first time I've ever been present, seemed completely relaxed and to be enjoying himself. Couldn't get my head around Frog Eyes, however. Not awful, just a little too busy for my taste. The lead singer does look a bit like a frog, amusingly. That was my favorite part.

Comments

[marty]

both beirut and rubdown were terrific; beirut's improved dramatically since their last show, and sunset rubdown really exceeded my expectations. and frog eyes didn't really do it for me either. Pics and reviews from both shows at my site.

[ness]

i heart sunset. and spencer. sigh.