Tiassa
09-30-10, 08:05 PM
Yes, it really was all that:
The show started in a bath of icy blue light, the eight musicians on stage in front of a huge scrim depicting overlapping freeway overpasses and, in front of the overpasses, a huge billboard ....
.... They proceeded to play a set that was, if you'll pardon the expression, fucking great. "You are killing it!" as the guy shouting behind me shouted. They sounded just like their albums, except live—that complex, wide-shot, always-building sound that gives you that rising feeling. They all clearly enjoy being together in the going-around-the-world-making-noise game, and they're all phenomenally good at it. In between songs, they kept changing what their job was—the number of people onstage would double (crew bringing out new instruments and relieving old ones), and Régine Chassagne would, say, go from playing keyboards and singing downstage (or sometimes rolling her body across the keyboard) to playing drums upstage, on a higher platform. At one point she grabbed two clumps of long ribbons and just sorta started flipping out. Looked neat.
(Frizzelle (http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2010/09/30/a-gorgeous-uncritizeable-arcade-fire-show-at-key-arena))
And more.
http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2010/09/30/1285882271-picture_10.png (http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2010/09/30/a-gorgeous-uncritizeable-arcade-fire-show-at-key-arena)
A moment between songs: What? I like this picture.
(Blush Photo, via LineOut)
I haven't seen Arcade Fire live for a while; first time was at Sasquatch a few years back, and I was so stoned then that I don't remember much except that I finally started to realize how good they were while seeking out a hidden beer stand without a line.
This was, truly, a powerful, magical, awe-inspiring set. One sometimes forgets that a band need not be The Melvins or Mastodon to sound huge. While I appreciated opening band Calexico's set for creating a genuinely trippy atmosphere, when the Arcade Fire came out, it was a whole separate experience. Clean, massive, and enthusiastic as hell. It was one of those performances that is hard to highlight because it occurred on a level that was, in itself, a highlight, but I'll note that the band seemed to really enjoy departing from The Suburbs with what will become classics, such as "Keep the Car Running" and an ebullient recital of "Where No Cars Go". And "We Used to Wait", a single off The Suburbs seems to be a rising standard; the audience went appropriately nuts at the performance, which was soul-shaking in its scale.
This was probably the best show I've seen all year. And I've seen some damn fine shows this year. There are only a few American performances left (California), but then they're off to Mexico and Europe (Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, England, Ireland, and Scotland). Go get your tickets. Now. I didn't know I was going to this show until three days before; I never would have known what I missed. Sometimes things just ... you know, work out.
____________________
Notes:
Frizzelle, Christopher. "A Gorgeous, Uncritizable Arcade Fire Show at Key Arena". LineOut. September 30, 2010. LineOut.TheStranger.com. September 30, 2010. http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2010/09/30/a-gorgeous-uncritizeable-arcade-fire-show-at-key-arena
The show started in a bath of icy blue light, the eight musicians on stage in front of a huge scrim depicting overlapping freeway overpasses and, in front of the overpasses, a huge billboard ....
.... They proceeded to play a set that was, if you'll pardon the expression, fucking great. "You are killing it!" as the guy shouting behind me shouted. They sounded just like their albums, except live—that complex, wide-shot, always-building sound that gives you that rising feeling. They all clearly enjoy being together in the going-around-the-world-making-noise game, and they're all phenomenally good at it. In between songs, they kept changing what their job was—the number of people onstage would double (crew bringing out new instruments and relieving old ones), and Régine Chassagne would, say, go from playing keyboards and singing downstage (or sometimes rolling her body across the keyboard) to playing drums upstage, on a higher platform. At one point she grabbed two clumps of long ribbons and just sorta started flipping out. Looked neat.
(Frizzelle (http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2010/09/30/a-gorgeous-uncritizeable-arcade-fire-show-at-key-arena))
And more.
http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2010/09/30/1285882271-picture_10.png (http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2010/09/30/a-gorgeous-uncritizeable-arcade-fire-show-at-key-arena)
A moment between songs: What? I like this picture.
(Blush Photo, via LineOut)
I haven't seen Arcade Fire live for a while; first time was at Sasquatch a few years back, and I was so stoned then that I don't remember much except that I finally started to realize how good they were while seeking out a hidden beer stand without a line.
This was, truly, a powerful, magical, awe-inspiring set. One sometimes forgets that a band need not be The Melvins or Mastodon to sound huge. While I appreciated opening band Calexico's set for creating a genuinely trippy atmosphere, when the Arcade Fire came out, it was a whole separate experience. Clean, massive, and enthusiastic as hell. It was one of those performances that is hard to highlight because it occurred on a level that was, in itself, a highlight, but I'll note that the band seemed to really enjoy departing from The Suburbs with what will become classics, such as "Keep the Car Running" and an ebullient recital of "Where No Cars Go". And "We Used to Wait", a single off The Suburbs seems to be a rising standard; the audience went appropriately nuts at the performance, which was soul-shaking in its scale.
This was probably the best show I've seen all year. And I've seen some damn fine shows this year. There are only a few American performances left (California), but then they're off to Mexico and Europe (Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, England, Ireland, and Scotland). Go get your tickets. Now. I didn't know I was going to this show until three days before; I never would have known what I missed. Sometimes things just ... you know, work out.
____________________
Notes:
Frizzelle, Christopher. "A Gorgeous, Uncritizable Arcade Fire Show at Key Arena". LineOut. September 30, 2010. LineOut.TheStranger.com. September 30, 2010. http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2010/09/30/a-gorgeous-uncritizeable-arcade-fire-show-at-key-arena