Good God, it was cold out last night. On our trek up to the Greek Theater in Berkeley to see Arcade Fire in the first of their two gigs in the area, we ended up having to stop by the American Apparel store on Bancroft and Telegraph to buy a scarf. Who knew they even sold scarves at the daringly-bare no-sweatshop emporium?
We are now officially so old, we didn't even bother looking for seats down below, and went straight up the hill and got seats on the bleachers by the portapotties. Any shame we might have felt was somewhat assuaged by the commentary by the folks sitting behind us: "Thank god we're not down in the stands. This way we don't have to hear the people singing along." Truer words were never spoken.
Arcade Fire really are trying to turn into Montreal's Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band -- every song was an anthem, and they certainly know how to put on a show. We thought the neon bible logos they had on stage looked kind of like underpants, though.
YouTube clip of yesterday's Neighborhood #3 (Power Out). More clips here. One more gig tonight at the Greek at 8 p.m.
Arcade Fire's known for putting on passionate stageshows, with the whole nonet singing and playing their hearts out (two extra people are on stage for the tour). And, as our neighbors had gloomily predicted, there was indeed quite a bit of singing along in the audience. Black mirror!
It was so cold, though, we couldn't bear to take our hands out of our pockets to clap. In the middle of the show, one of the violinists did end up conceding to the elements and put on a shrug of some sort to cover up her bare arms. And at one point, the fog rolled in right over the stage in the middle of a set. Lead singer Win Butler jokingly complained that the fog had shorted out his amp, but then hastily added, "No, it's okay, I understand the fog is part of your local character."
Some of the other highlights for us: we had no idea singer Regine Chassagne 1) could sing like Bjork and 2) could play the drums. And we really loved the song Butler wrote about his grandfather's funeral in San Francisco, the appropriately-titled "Cold Wind."
Arcade Fire, though, has gotten really, really big -- and maybe it was because of that, or because we were sitting so far away, or maybe it's their singing style, or maybe it was the cold, but we never felt like we got a sense of who the band was, or a better understanding of the songs. They're this weird mix of intimate and distant -- not just live, but also on the new album -- and we will say we were a little sorry we never got to see them in a smaller space, where we think we might have been able to bridge that gap a little better.
But it really was a very fun show -- though we'd warn you to bring gloves along as well. As the girl behind us on her cell phone was rapturously saying afterwards, "There were violins and the lead singer sounds just like Bruce Springsteen!"
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I loved how everybody in the band just seemed to move around without any rhyme or reason-- like everyone was having too much fun being on stage to really worry about hitting their notes or playing their instrument. Like one minute a guitarist started hitting on one of those light poles. Or in "Wake Up" someone stopped playing just to throw things (one of the horn players kept throwing things at another band member too). And one minute someone would play drums then switch to keyboards and then back to druns and then sang in a megaphone, It alll seemed so spontaneous and good hearted that the audience couldn't help but join in on the fun.
you prob heard me singing. i thought i sounded great.
and i was in a t-shirt and i was fine all night, but i wasn't trying to fall asleep, either.
the atmosphere up in back where we were was a mix of apathy from the old timers, mixed in with pure joyousness from the people who appreciate good music. i think maybe some of you old-timers thought this was going to be an orchestra or something and didn't realize it was actually an indie rock band showing up.
to each their own. :)
p.s. Wake Up, at the end, was insane.
you really didn't miss much seeing this band in a smaller venue. i saw them in philadelphia twice at the ~250 capacity unitarian church and again at the ~800 capacity TLA. at the church show they didn't impress me too much and weren't that nuts. they picked up their stride more once at the TLA, but as they've gotten bigger the hype around their performances, and thus the delivery of their performances, has become more intense. i was at last night's (6/2) show and was very impressed. we were down in the pit and the singing along was not an issue since the sound was clear and loud enough from the speakers to drown any off key would-be harmonists out.
I saw the Saturday show. I wasn't down in the lowest pit, but on the shallow steps in front of the marble chairs. The sound, while it improved through the night, was not such that all instruments could be heard. The horns in particular were largely inaudible. Maybe the Greek has had too many noise complaints, but it seemed to be hard to achieve liftoff with an underpowered sound system. Still, if not completely transcendent, with the energy the band put out and the excellent visuals, it was worthwhile.
Hit the Friday show. I'm convinced that if David Byrne and Christopher Walken had a manchild it'd be the Arcade Fire's lead singer. Which is a very good thing. I was impressed that the band put on such a high energy show at the END Of their tour-- they clearly aren't too cool about caring for the crowd, something other bands could take a lesson from. We didn't love the show as much as when we saw them at Great American Music Hall, but then it wasn't as much as a revelation: they're the same Arcade Fire we saw two years ago. Which is very impressive given how big they've gotten in the last year.