I feel for you, hipsters. I really do.
What a conundrum Wednesday night's Arcade Fire show at Starlight Theatre must've been for you. Here's a band that you've watched grow from an indie sapling into a Grammy-winning, SNL-performing super group, right before your thick-framed eyes. But now that everyone else knows about them, is it no longer cool to keep listening?
It's like the whole world's fucking your girlfriend now. My condolences.
Perceptions aside, the differences between Arcade Fire now and the Arcade Fire that played the same stage in 2007 are vast. Back then, the Canadian eight-piece was touring in support of its slightly warmer than lukewarm sophomore release, Neon Bible.
Now armed with 2010's album of the year (The Suburbs) and the mainstream fandom that accompanies such a tenuous honor, lead vocalist Win Butler and his seven other multi-instrumentalists delivered a bombastic hour-and-a-half set that played to both their newfound strengths and older successes.
"I love this place! I love this venue!" Butler proclaimed shortly after the final bars of "Rococo," a new crowd favorite that -- like several songs (especially those sung by co-vocalist and wife Regine Chassagne) -- resonated much better off Starlight's brick façade than it does on the album.
And maybe it comes with living in Canada, but the band never seemed phased by the night's unusually chilly late-April cold snap.
By contrast, that same monolithic stage -- not to mention an unfortunately sunny 7 p.m. start time -- didn't do openers the National any favors. Although their success is well-deserved, it's sort of a mixed blessing to see a band this un-arena-like reach a level of popularity that requires it to keep playing bigger and bigger shows that don't really mesh with the moodier moments of its catalog.
"Thanks for coming early," said lead singer Matt Berninger, who spent most of the show hobbling around the stage due to a foot injury. (He pseudo-seriously claimed to have shot himself in the foot on the tour bus the day before.)
However, the band still managed to play a lush 13-song set, including an ethereal version of "Afraid of Everyone" that would've made any of the night's 4/20 participants paranoid. They even delved into some serious back-catalog material with a hushed version of "About Today," from their 2004 Cherry Tree EP. Berninger dedicated the track to TV on the Radio bassist Gerard Smith, who passed away earlier in the day after a battle with lung cancer.
The National's restrained intensity was in stark contrast to the frenetic spectacle Arcade Fire would bring out later in the night. Three video screens (one across the back of the stage, and two jutting out to form a grindhouse-era movie-theater marquee) trumpeted their arrival, as footage from "Over the Edge," "Camelot" and "The Warriors" gave way to the grinding guitars of "Month of May."
The cinematography was practically a ninth member of the band, intertwining highly stylized live shots of the night over grainy B-roll footage of palm trees, highways and, of course, the suburbs.
Amazingly, the 17 songs in the set (seven each from Suburbs and their breakthrough LP Funeral, but only three from Bible) sounded almost exactly like their album counterparts, the notable exception being "Ready to Start," whose ending morphed into a throbbing dance beat, one of several cues the excited crowd didn't fail to miss (neither did buoyant keyboardist/percussionist Richard Parry, a guy who really loves playing the tambourine). Really, this adherence to the source material wasn't that surprising, considering how highly arranged the band's albums already are. Deviation would almost be distracting.
The highlight of the night came right before the encore, as the chugging opening guitars of "Wake Up" filled the air. It was truly breathtaking to see practically everyone in the crowd chant along to the song's soaring intro.
It goes without saying that Arcade Fire will never again be the indie secret its core fans may want it to be. But after seeing the affect the band had on such a large and diverse crowd, it's clear that there's nothing wrong with that. This is what arena rock was meant to be.
Critic's Bias: I left my very pregnant wife at home (12 more days, if the due date's correct) because I didn't want to miss this show. That's why cell phones were invented, right?
Critic's Notebook: "Note to self: Start a Tumblr blog dedicated solely to Win Butler's haircut." (Update: too late.)
Overheard in the Crowd: The guy standing next to me was only able to express his love for Arcade Fire by performing every part of every song -- male, female and instrumental -- through an invented dialect of singing, panting, moaning, humming and guitar sounds, all while doing a variation of the chicken dance from "Arrested Development." He was like the Nell of Canadian indie-rock fans.
The National set list:
Anyone's Ghost
Mistaken for Strangers
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Slow Show
Squalor Victoria
Afraid of Everyone
Conversation 16
Abel
England
Fake Empire
Mr. November
Terrible Love
About Today
Arcade Fire set list:
Month of May
Ready to Start
Rebellion (Lies)
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
No Cars Go
Haiti
Empty Room
Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)
Rococo
The Suburbs
Intervention
We Used to Wait
Keep the Car Running
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Wake Up
Encore:
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
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By your bashing of a really outstanding review I'll assume Aaron is fucking your girlfriend the way Arcade Fire in fucking hipster sadness.
By the way Hombre bashing hipsters has not "Jumped the shark" There is no way that making fun of grown people who wear costumes every god dam day will ever be passe`.
Ya know what is old? Do you know what has jumped the shark? The phrase "jumped the shark". So go ahead and stop using that. It's best for all parties.
Why ruin an otherwise decent review with hipster-bashing and fucking-your-girlfriend talk?
Besides, AF have been in the mainstream for a good 5 years. They were on SNL 4 years ago. Well before winning a meaningless Grammy.
Sorry to break it to you, but hipster bashing has jumped the shark. Here's a novel thought: focus on the music......
They played it the other night, and it was AWESOME!
As well, part of the point of live performances is to mix things up a little. Creative flair, alter lyrics, new guitar parts, etc.
Can't agree with 'lukewarm Sophomore' Neon Bible. Many AF supporters consider this album still to be their best and it's a shame they no longer perform the likes of Antichrist Television Blues, Black Wave/Bad Vibrations and Ocean of Noise (though they need the horns they no longer have for some Neon Bible songs). Plus some of AF's best gigs to date were played on the Neon Bible tour (check out Eurockeennes 2007 for example, its all on YouTube). Plus plus Neon Bible contains what to many is still their most powerful song, (but one it is difficult to replicate live); Intervention.
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