Here’s a jumbled bit about the two most life changing shows I had the pleasure of seeing.
It’s been almost a week since I’ve seen them both live and I still can’t get over how moving they were. Beirut is my absolute favourite band and I’ve waited a long, long time to see them. The sun was setting when Zach Condon first lifted his trumpet to play. Seeing them live brought me to tears which might sound sort of endearing but it quickly turned into sobbing and lasted throughout the whole show. They were so beautiful, and I had to wear sunglasses the next day because my eyes were puffy from crying. The nice Canadian folks around me asked me if I was okay and I remember telling them I was just really really happy. It’s almost ridiculous how much I enjoyed that show. Beirut was so lovely. They sounded so brilliant under the red glow-y lights, and I really could not have seen them at a better venue.
After Beirut was Bon Iver so I stayed where I was in the front. I watched them set out these standing jars of light of different heights around the stage and Justin Vernon & band tuned their instruments before they began. Blue lights and fog fell on them as they played, I got this sense of coldness from their performance but they were so gorgeous. In the end, Justin left us with an evocative message of “What might have been lost” in his encore of The Wolves and then ended with For Emma. He thanked the crowd about a million times. I remember walking out and thinking that this was the guy who recorded an album in the middle of the woods.. All I can say is that Bon Iver was fucking incredible.
If I close my eyes and listen to Holocene I can still feel the chill of the night setting in along with the bright lights overhead
…and Beirut is still playing in my heart.
