Arcade Fire have become one of rock music’s most celebrated and well-known bands. A feat they’ve accomplished while remaining relatively obscure (as far as world-renowned bands go) and, more importantly, remaining true to their artistic vision, which has evolved with each record. We unabashedly adored their most recent effort Reflektor, an album that included rich thematic elements and complex sonic structures from a wide range of genres. Part of what propelled the band such heights was their incredible song craft, but another factor was their exuberant live show. Both were on full display last night at the Austin 360 Amphitheater.
Reflektor is full of songs that both embrace the acute pain of human existence while simultaneously expressing the complete joy of being alive. It makes for one hell of an emotive dance party. It’s the kind of crowd you’re okay singing along with. Around me, concertgoers wore full suits and donned colorful masks and costumes–ready for the impeding performance. The evening began with a quick rendition of “Deep in the Heart of Texas” as a figure with headgear comprised of a cube of LCD projection screens bearing Rick Perry’s face along with bobble head caricatures of Obama and the band members themselves all paraded out. This is the kind of spectacle fans have come to know and love from Arcade Fire. Win Butler wore a white cowboy hat, but had already shed it by the time the rest of the band came out of their bobble heads and moved into album track “Normal Person.”
The night consisted of a good amount of material from the band’s back catalogue including “No Cars Go” and a short version of “My Body is a Cage” from Neon Bible, a slew of songs from their debut Funeral: “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels),” “Nieighborhood #3 (Power Out),” “Rebellion (Lies,” and several songs from their acclaimed album The Suburbs: “Ready to Start,” “The Suburbs,” and “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).” The crowd was also treated to two covers, Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and Prince’s “Controversy.” The latter was played during the encore and with Butler wearing a giant Pope bobble head.
Songs from Reflektor included “We Exist” and “Here Comes the Night Time.” When the band played “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus),” they full embraced the spirit of the original Greek myth; Arcade Fire member Regine Chassange made her way to the back of the crowd and sang on an elevated platform, embodying the character Eurydice condemned to the underworld, while Win Butler acted as Orpheus, singing out to Chassange from the stage. For the epic confetti-filled closer “Wake Up,” the band paraded through the crowd as everyone joined in singing the epic choral notes.
I’ve long said that Flaming Lips put on my favorite live show, but Arcade Fire are certainly close on their heels. The evening was full of art and joy and wonderful music. And as if that weren’t enough, I left the venue to head straight to the Continental Club for the “official after party” featuring members of Arcade Fire playing in a cover band as Phi Slamma Jamma. More on that show in the next couple of hours if we can manage it.
We were told by C3 that they lost our request for photo credentials to the show. While that was a huge bummer, I snapped some shots from the crowd with my high quality compact camera gear. I’m pretty proud of them still, but for great shots, check out Tim Griffin’s photos here. All photos © Bryan Parker & Pop Press International.
