Pitchfork

Last time Pitchfork reported on Beirut's Zach Condon (when he signed to 4AD), we lovingly joked about him having "nothing but good luck this year." Um, looks like we totally jinxed the poor guy (sorry dude!). We've just received word that Beirut have been forced to cancel the remaining shows on their current tour-- and that Condon has suffered a bought of "extreme exhaustion," for which he was hospitalized for a short time this past Saturday in Paris, France. The band was forced to cancel their show in Paris, as well as an appearance on French website La Blogotheque's "Take-Away Concerts" series.

"This was an extremely difficult decision to make," wrote a representative for the band's U.S. label, Ba Da Bing!, about the tour cancellation, "and was only decided on after doing everything we possibly could to make it work out.

"This is Beirut's first-ever tour, and while the band played some of the greatest shows of their lives, the attendant stress of organizing and traveling with a full-blown, 12-person orkestar took its toll. Having put all of his energy into each and every performance, Zach was briefly hospitalized for extreme exhaustion."

Thankfully, Condon's now out of the hospital and recovering. As of now, however, this means four Beirut gigs in the immediate future have been cancelled: one in Rhode Island, one in Vermont, and two at New York's Bowery Ballroom (details below). The band intends to make up the missed dates at some point, while for the time being, quoth the rep, "[Condon] is attempting to channel the spirit of Jacques Brel using a cowbell and a gong." Who knows, dude could be the next Scott Walker.

And if words like "stress" and "organizing" and "tour" aren't colorful enough for you, Zach Condon's brother Ryan has kindly offered up this rather poetic, er, explanation:

"Having downed a bottle of rancid French wine on the Ile-De-La-Cite (Perrin was threatening to jump in the Séine in honor of his Parisian amour) Zach began to quote Flaubert from memory. Flaubert was not welcome that beautiful night in the city of lights. Violins and accordions were consecrated in piss and vinegar before Jim Morrison's grave. 'Jim Morrison was a shaman!' Paul cried. A lone French orphan draped in purple rags wept for all our American sins.

"The next morning Zach got lost in the Louvre. 'Cubism is a farce,' he whispered to a overweight Dutch tourist. Under the English Channel, en route to London, Zach noted the relative comfort of being 'chunneled'. In a dank Soho apothecary he sought a remedy for exhaustion and aversion to French bedbugs. The apothecary tried vainly to quote Prince Charles recent royal address to the greater public of Britain: 'In light of having seen my wife unrobed and wigless in the disingenuous florescent light of a cheap hotel room, I do apologize to the nation and myself for unquestioning faith in her eternal beauty. She is old and ugly and so am I.' That is funny Zach dourly noted, but it does not help me at all not one bloody bit. 'I must return to New Mexico to decompress.' Parliament was eerily quiet. One cannot argue with the plain truth."

Quite.

Cancelled dates:

11-16 Providence, RI - Leung Gallery
11-17 Oswego, NY - SUNY Oswego
11-18 Bennington, VT - Bennington College
11-19 Boston, MA - Middle East
11-21 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
11-22 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom