The first time I saw the Arcade Fire was back in 2004, soon after their first album came out and slightly before people started getting all crazy about them. I saw them play at Cornell in Ithaca, in the "multipurpose" room one floor above a dining hall, where they were crammed onto a makeshift stage that was entirely too small for them, and just really knocked my socks off. I was standing right to the side of the stage and the whole experience was kind of electrifying.
This time around, I saw them at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, which is really one of the nicest venues I've ever been to. The architecture and decor are very historic and vintage feeling, the seats seemed newly cushioned, and the views and acoustics were really excellent. My seat was in the back of the first balcony section, and with the stadium seating I didn't have trouble seeing the stage at all (which is often the case because I'm short). And the band? Still fantastic live. There were even more members of the band this time...was it nine, ten people? There were a ton of instruments that they all kept rotating on (including the strange but somewhat wonderful hurdy-gurdy) and they were really appreciative of the very revved-up sold-out crowd. The lead singer, Win Butler, told everyone in the orchestra to get up closer to the stage and things looked pretty jammed and happy up there in front, and the balcony was really hopping as well (so much so that my brother, who was a good sport and came along with me despite not being a huge fan, commented that the balcony seemed like it had the potential to collapse). The stage set was also pretty cool...they had these five round "screens" on top of posts around the stage that were showing various images and sometimes live playback of members of the band treated to look like an old silent movie. As for the music, I have to admit that I don't think I like their new album as much as their first, but the live performance kind of changed my mind about some of the new songs. And they mixed in just enough of the old stuff to make me happy too. They ended their regulars with Rebellions (Lies), which was definitely my favorite song of the night, followed closely by No Cars Go.
But before the show I kind of had the feeling that nothing was really going to live up to the first time I saw them and I was sort of right. I think that was kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I still think that was the best show I've ever been to. But I'm definitely glad I got out to see them on this tour, especially since it was at the Tower which was super nice. I will definitely be taking advantage of more opportunities to see bands there.
Also want to mention the National, which opened the show. I felt pretty bad for them, as the theater was almost less than half full during their set and people were really just not that excited but I thought they were actually really good. I'd only heard of one of their songs before (Indie Pop Rocks! plays them occasionally), but I think I might check them out some more now.
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