Arcade Fire: Burning Down the House
Well, I went to see the Arcade Fire last night at the 9:30 Club, and they rocked. Really, they rocked hard. They spent a good hour and a half pumping out high energy tunes and bouncing on stage in a truly entertaining show. For all the details, I suggest catching the DCist review , I'll give you a hint though, they really loved it over there:
The guy over at information leafblower ate it up even more: "I walked out of the venue wondering why all concerts aren't like theirs." And on and on.
I don't know though. Now I'm not pretending to be the arbiter of indie rock taste, but the concert was only so good. Admittedly, I was under the weather (sorry for all the nasal drip balcony crew) but based on the commentary that I had read and heard about their album, I went in expecting to be underwhelmed by the music. And I was. There was a lot of art/noise rock kicking out of the stage. And it was good. However, at a certain point I just want to hear a good song. More than just noise. The stage antics were entertaining to the point of being overwhelming, but the hopping around and drumming on stuff makes for Stomp not an amazing rock experience. Not to sell Arcade Fire short, but I was almost more entertained by their opening act Final Fantasy, which consisted of what appeared to be an 18 year old with his violin digitally layering his tunes to lay out some catchy beats.
As for Win Butler's commentary that we might be the politest crowd he's played to all tour, I mean welcome to DC. You grow up here getting put in your place by Ian MacKaye, then you settle down and listen to the music. There was an electricity going through the crowd last night, but all the energy was focused on the music. Which is where it should be.
During the 90-minute spectacle, the eight members switched instruments, mimicked fistfights, raced around stage and managed to balance tremulous vocals (singers
are married couple Win Butler, a mournful vocalist from Texas and Regine
Chassagne, who can affect near-Bjorkian theatrics with her lilting voice) with
bombastic, driven melodies. And the crowd ate it up.
The guy over at information leafblower ate it up even more: "I walked out of the venue wondering why all concerts aren't like theirs." And on and on.
I don't know though. Now I'm not pretending to be the arbiter of indie rock taste, but the concert was only so good. Admittedly, I was under the weather (sorry for all the nasal drip balcony crew) but based on the commentary that I had read and heard about their album, I went in expecting to be underwhelmed by the music. And I was. There was a lot of art/noise rock kicking out of the stage. And it was good. However, at a certain point I just want to hear a good song. More than just noise. The stage antics were entertaining to the point of being overwhelming, but the hopping around and drumming on stuff makes for Stomp not an amazing rock experience. Not to sell Arcade Fire short, but I was almost more entertained by their opening act Final Fantasy, which consisted of what appeared to be an 18 year old with his violin digitally layering his tunes to lay out some catchy beats.
As for Win Butler's commentary that we might be the politest crowd he's played to all tour, I mean welcome to DC. You grow up here getting put in your place by Ian MacKaye, then you settle down and listen to the music. There was an electricity going through the crowd last night, but all the energy was focused on the music. Which is where it should be.
posted by Fletch at
4:20 PM
1 Comments:
Touche, I think.
Balancing tolerance and judgement can be a tricky effort. I really did enjoy the show, but, on the other hand, I have removed Arcade Fire's album from my queue of music to buy.
By
Fletch, at 12:45 PM
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