… and, if the snow buries my Neighborhood …
Arcade Fire, 2:14
I have seen many things at the hundreds of concerts I have been to. A band flying to the stage at Madison Square Garden in a giant hot-dog had been the most surreal. Until last night.
Last night, I drank a Heineken and watched Arcade Fire turn their amps to 11 in the chapel of the Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square Park South in NYC. An upside-down neon bible and a giant stained glass window with an imposing cross adorned the backdrop of the stage. A giant church pipe organ made its home stage right. The second level of pews became the seated VIP section for the night. And the cleared out floor of the chapel – a cavernous stained glass decorated room – became the destination for the common folk. The congregation, if you will, that came to hear the message of Arcade Fire.
This was no fold-your-arms choir-boy event. Early on in the evening, Win Butler, the band’s leading preacher, made clear to everyone to forget that we were in church. He even dropped some f-bombs to let people know that, tonight, blasphemy would be turned on its head. This was going to be a different religious experience.
Neon Bible is the title of the soon to be released and much anticipated album by Arcade Fire as a follow up to 2004’s Funeral. Funeral turned the indie world on its head generating ebullient praise from David Bowie to U2 to hipsters everywhere. And with good reason. It was a concept album of love and pain and youth and fear with the music and emotion to match (e.g., ice is gathering on my parents hands; don’t have any dreams, don’t have any plans).
Last night’s show – one of 4 straight at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village – was the city’s most recent proverbial “toughest ticket in town.” Tickets were being offered on craigslist at $2,000/pair and the bartering offers (some hilarious) were all over the map. Alas, a lucky few got in. RZ and I happened to be two of them.
The band has generated a nice reputation for itself as one of the best live bands around and it was easy to see early in the show why. Nine people took the stage – two horn players, two violinists, and the remaining five members switching instruments like it was musical chairs. Guitar, Electric Bass, Keyboards, Drums, Mandolin, Second Guitar, Standup Bass, Cymbals, Harmonium. The mosaic of sound was played with an energy rivaling any other show I’ve seen. Arcade Fire’s songs are more anthem than song, and being at church was the perfect venue to bear this out. Backing vocals were powerfully choir-like, the organ was eerily church-like, and I was awestruck. Preaching to the converted.
Eight of the first nine songs were new songs, but they were lively and interesting and moving. As anthemic as anything on Funeral. The band seemed particularly tight and proud of the new songs. A band that opens a show in this fashion – with this much energy and such a heavy dose of new material – is a confident band. I loved the new stuff.
Win Butler, the lead singer, made several comments throughout the night that the crowd was not loud enough and didn’t seem to be enjoying itself. I found this to be odd, and frankly, disappointing because (a) I disagreed and (b) it takes the energy out of the room (for me) when the performer isn’t enjoying himself/herself. Notwithstanding the fury with which they were playing, Win made it clear that he was disappointed with the crowd; even going so far as to suggest that the band would stop playing if people didn’t make more noise. The congregation wasn’t seeing the light, apparently.
In response, the band launched into Power Out and Rebellion from Funeral. These songs got the best response of the night – they were songs that everyone was there to hear. And in the band’s defense, Win’s comments notwithstanding, if they were disappointed with the crowd reaction, they weren’t showing it when they played. The crowd was sufficiently stirred up and raucous at the end of Rebellion and I knew it was getting close to the end of the night. Instead of taking everyone one notch higher – with (the appropriately named?) Wake Up – the band came back down and played a slower new song (Win on an acoustic Gibson guitar) to end the set and walked off the stage.
The crowd heartily cheered, but didn’t break the sound barrier, and the band came back out to play an uninspired first song in the encore (new) and the first track from Funeral – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) before leaving for good. Tunnles was the perfect end to send us out into a snow-covered NYC. The crowd was excited and happy, but also disappointed that other gems from Funeral were omitted. We never got that Wake Up call that Win was hinting at.
In all, it was a great show. A bizarre venue. The band sounded great and incredibly tight. From where I was standing, the lead vocals were muddy at times, but this show was as much about the energy of the band as anything. And that carried the day for me. I was disappointed with Win’s critiques of the crowd. I have always been a quiet listener at shows and don’t feel the need to scream like a schoolgirl to show my appreciation. If I didn’t want to be there, I would not have stood in 10 degree weather outside waiting to get in. I am going to let other folks/bloggers debate about whether the crowd was good/bad/indifferent. Instead, I will remember the night that Arcade Fire preached from the altar and reminded me why I see live music. A top 10 concert experience for me, if not top 5. I can’t wait for Neon Bible to be released.
Setlist:
No Cars Go
Haiti
Black Mirror
Keep The Car Running
(Antichrist Television Blues)
Black Waves/Bad Vibration
My Body Is A Cage
Windowsill
The Well & The Lighthouse
Power Out
Rebellion (Lies)
Intervention
---------------------
Oceans of Noise
Neighborhood #1
6 comments:
until you're a performer, you truly wouldn't understand why Win was critiquing the lack of enthusiasm. as human beings and in the band's case, as performers, we feed off reaction. if the reaction is raucous, it increases a performer's adrenaline, and results in an even more excited performer. your obvious lack of this understanding makes it all the more difficult for performers to understand if you as an attendee are enjoying the show or not. just because you are present does not mean you are enjoying and appreciating the show. perhaps you should loosen up a bit and actually show some physical display of emotion. i'm not saying to be a cheerleader and scream, but do something. nothing is worse than perceived apathy. shame on you. life is short. carpe diem. why do you feel that you're "like everyone else" if you cheer for a job well done?
here here! i agree with the previous comment. a quiet listener is not what performers feed off of. a quiet listener is one, who listens in their closet while writing poetry. a quiet listener?!?! at least smile and clap your hands. who are you to just stand there like arcade fire "owes" a wild performance to you? as the other poster said, we are human. we have emotions. they SHOULD be expressed, especially during such a special show given by a special band. wow. the ignorance by mr. matt.
You guys are both tools. I cheered as loudly as anyone in the joint when the songs were OVER. I do not, feel the need to sing at the top of my lungs while the performer is singing (I came to hear them, not myself). Nor do I feel the need to clap along at rhythms during a song thereby poorly mimicking the beat of the tune. In short, I feel like there is a time and place at a show to show your appreciation to the band. And that is after the song. Not during it.
I enjoyed the show but I really was disappointed by some songs that were left out. Also I agree that the band put down the crowd. I cheered and danced throughout the show and I felt that Win's comments kinda brought me down like I wasn't doing my job. I think the crowd was kinda disappointed by not knowing most of the songs. The new stuff was great but we did need a little more familiarity I think. Great show though but I don't think it compared to their other two performances that I've seen in NYC.
The Hot Dog was not at MSG...it was Phish at the Boston Garden, 12/31/94. I was there...were you? Also, you said you went to the Shins last night...I was there too and thought it sucked. The room was too big for them, they couldn't command it.
Yes, I was at the Shins show and agree with your opinion (see review above).
As for the hot dog at MSG -- I think you are correct that the inital hot dog appearance was at Boston Garden, but they brought the hot dog out of retirement at had it at MSG too.
Post a Comment