The Where's Luke Concert Review: Arcade Fire

About two weeks about, Open Bar and I went to see Arcade Fire in concert at Madison Square Garden. Were I not on blog vacation (industry jargon, YP, MP) I may have blogged about it in a more timely fashion.

The preamble is that only the two of us went, but we also invited Side Bar who had mentioned that he was developing an interest in Arcade Fire in previous goings on. But he didn't want to go. If he had gone and we could have bought the tickets on his AmEx card, then we would have had floor seats. Instead we were in the nosebleeds, but actually they were pretty good seats. Long and uninteresting to tell that whole story, but that's the bulk of it.

Anyhow, the concert was super fantastic awesome. It started with Owen Pallett, the dude who arranges the strings for Arcade Fire. He does this thing where he loops violin parts and plays more violin on top of it and the resulting sound is really pretty. I have his two albums and they are good. His one album, "Has a Good Home" is actually in constant rotation on my iPod. Except one dude playing one violin in a half empty arena doesn't exactly translate to a rockin' performance. I thought it was interesting, however. During that time, Open Bar went to watch the Mets game.

After that dude came Spoon. Open Bar said he recognized one of their songs from the radio, but I didn't recognize it. Their set started with a bunch of people on stage, most notably a horn section and the first couple songs rocked. Then the horn section left and I didn't enjoy the middle part as much. Then the horns came back and I enjoyed it again. They were actually pretty good overall, but I liked the horns.

Spoon didn't go off stage until like 9:45 and I lamented to Open Bar that Arcade Fire wouldn't go on until 10:15 and wouldn't finish until like 1:00 and I wouldn't get home until like 2:00 or 2:30. He seemed to think they would finish before 12:30, but I wasn't feeling that.

So, as predicted Arcade Fire comes on at 10:15. They fucking rocked it out. The second best part about watching an Arcade Fire concert is that they rock the shit out of a song and they all jump around and put tons of energy into it and you can't help but reciprocate that energy. The single best part, however, is that as soon as each song is finished, all of them (and there are like 12 of them) put down their instruments and run around and pick up new instruments to play the next song. Regine, also known as the little tiny girl in the shiny dress, ran from one side of the stage to the other in between every song. She played at least 6 instruments during the concert and also sang. They played a bunch of songs everyone knows and some songs from their new album, which had come out just the day before. (Awesome Music Week review coming on that one once I wrap my head around it a little more.)

And my pre-concert request as stated to Open Bar, "I hope they play all the 'Car' songs," came to fruition. The second song they played was "Keep the Car Running" and then during the encore they played "No Cars Go". They also rocked "Power Out", another of my favorites. And the highlight of the show was, of course, the finale. Their last song was "Wake Up", during which the chanted chorus was, well, chanted by everyone in the audience. Fucking rocked.

Finish time, 12:30, as Open Bar predicted. Plus I got a t-shirt. And even though it's a medium and not large, it isn't embarrasingly small, only "hipster tight" as I'm going to call it. I would fit in well in Williamsburg wearing that shirt.

This concert jumps near the top of the list of concerts I have ever attended. The first Dave Matthews concert I ever went to in 1996 I think is still at the top, just because it represented way more than just a concert to me, and also because me and Side Bar were in the 10th row. But aside from that one, I think this one is next. It was just so damn good. As my Facebook status the next day said: "Arcade Fire at MSG last night. Awesome. Sofa King Awesome."

My New Favorite Band: Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire is the greatest band of the new millenium. By a long shot.

Here's what I want you to do. Go out and buy their first album, Funeral. Listen to it over and over until you absolutely love it because it's unlike anything you've ever heard. Process in your brain how inventive this band is, and all the different sounds that are coming into your ears. Think about how this is one of the most groundbreaking albums you have ever heard.

Then, go out and get their second album, Neon Bible. Do not get this album until you already love the first one. I'm thinking of your best interest here. I want you to love that first album. I want you to understand how great that album is before you get the second one. That way when you're in love with the first album, when you are hoping that their sophomore effort doesn't disappoint, when you believe that the first album is the best album you've heard in the last 10 years, when you can't wait to listen to what else they have, then listen to the second album.




Yeah, we're mouth breathers, but our album will kick your album's ass.
You wish you had Napoleon Dynamite as your bassist.

That way you'll be blown away by the fact that the second album is even better than the first. Amazingly, it's much better. It's akin to knowing in your heart that hamburgers are the greatest food on Earth, and then trying a cheeseburger for the first time. It's similar, it's almost the same, yet somehow it's infinitely better.

I don't want to try and describe the greatness of this band. I was railing on a little while back about how there's no more important music. Well, now we have at least this one band that's still making important music. I at least have hope that someone out there still cares about good music. And at least that's something.

Although I'm a little bothered by the fact that I know (well, I'm assuming) that most of you have never heard of Arcade Fire. There is no radio station that plays good music any more unless it's over 10 years old. There is no TV station that is going to back this band up until they become the most important band out there. In 1991, MTV would have made this band the next U2. Instead, they're just going to be a band with a huge cult following, a ton of groundbreaking music, and not much more to show for it.

But you can at least do something about it. Go buy their albums. Follow my advice about listening to them, and start to love life again.