Beirut review, Christian Bale, Dane Cook and football

The Beirut show was beyond impressive. It took place at the Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, NY on Feb 6th. I paid an embarrassingly high ticket price from an internet scalper (one of the wackest hustles known to music lovers everywhere.) I had no idea that Beirut was popular enough to sell out this place two nights in a row.

After the 4 hour drive, my girlfriend and I found our way to our seats on the 3rd floor. I damn near suffered vertigo when looking down onto the stage. We were high up…and the seating section in the balcony area is dangerously steep. This was a strange setting for this type of show. Thankfully the singer, Zach Condon, motioned for the seating section on the floor to get up and crowd around the stage. He didn’t verbalize this request, as I’m guessing the Opera House has stern rules about people staying in their seats, but it enhanced the show despite all of us in the balcony section suffering through fits of jealousy.

If you’re not familiar with Beirut you can check them out at www.myspace.com/beruit (let them know Sage Francis sent you…maybe we’ll score a collaboration from it. heh.) It’s not hip-hop, but it’s beautiful, original and kick ass.

Half-way through their show they had a middle school orchestra join them on stage. It was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen happen at a live show. I don’t know what kind of preparation goes into organizing something like this, but we sure as hell appreciated it. So thank you.

Amanda was able to sneak these two photos when the balcony guards weren’t breathing down our necks.

Unrelated end notes:

1) Dane Cook is the new Carrot Top. I’m glad the comedy world has come down on him for being a fraud.

2) The AFC-NFC Pro Bowl needs to not happen anymore.

3) By this point most people have heard the audio of Christian Bale going off on a stage hand during the filming of the new Terminator movie. Then came the youtube mash-ups…my favorites being:

And

Today Christian Bale released an apology stating this: “The thing that I really want to stress is I have no confusion whatsoever. I was out of order beyond belief. I was way out of order. I acted like a punk. I regret that.”

The correct press statement should have been this:
“I’m Christian Bale. Don’t interrupt my fucking awesome Terminator scene, you amateur TWAT!”

Don’t go soft on us, Mr. Bateman.