I don’t know about you, but seeing as The Arcade Fire isn’t playing any proper L.A. shows on this tour (only a Coachella appearance) , I’ve been closely monitoring the sets they playing in Montreal, London, Montreal again, and now New York. I know that many of the New Yorkers have been frustrated by the impossible task of getting tickets for the undersized venue that Judson Memorial Church is, but the photos look just amazing. And what better place to play out an album that was recorded in a church in the first place.
Well again, I’ve listened to all of the recordings that have been posted of the Montreal, London & New York shows, and the recordings that this guy/girl “upload” did for Friday and Saturday are by far the best. I grabbed them from dime here and here, but the sound was really quiet so I did my best to normalize them louder. NPR did a great broadcast of the Saturday show as well, and promises to have it up as mp3s by Tuesday. But the audience recording by upload is just about as good in terms of sound quality. And despite some nice jabs at former mayor Rudy ‘I hate hot dogs’ Giuliani [non-New Yorkers: he is an immoral opportunist and it would be horrific if he were able to trick the entire country based on some publicity photos from 5 years ago], I prefer the songs and sequence of the Friday night show. And the pamplemousse vs. grapefruit discussion. “The Well and the Lighthouse” is just amazing, no? I’m not crazy about the France Gall/Serge Gainsbourg cover, “Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son.” Plus ‘poopy’ is pretty much my least favorite way to say ‘doo-doo.’ The new stuff might be less shout-along lovable than Funeral, but it still sounds pretty great and the more I hear it the more it grows on me.
By the way, I think the only time I went to Judson Memorial Church was for a Yo La Tengo show back in 2001. Well at least I think its the same church… Freed- you went too, is that the place?
[photo by kathryn]
Arcade Fire live at Judson Memorial Church, NYC:
Friday, 16 February 2007
Recorded by upload, FLAC > mp3 (V0)
01 band takes stage/tunings
02 No Cars Go
03 Haiti
04 Black Mirror
05 Keep the Car Running
06 Antichrist TV Blues
07 Black Waves/Bad Vibrations
08 Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son (Serge Gainsbourg cover)
09 The Well and the Lighthouse
10 Ocean of Noise
11 Rebellion
12 Intervention
13 encore break
14 Neon Bible
15 Wake Up (in crowd)
thanks for putting this up. would love to see these guys sometime
what a treat. sounds amazing. this will be keeping me company on a 14 hour flight to australia…thank you for your part in my salvation!
thank you so much! these are fab.
Awesome, this is just wonderful…
Thank you, your awesome!
Merci, merci beaucoup pour tous ces morceaux !!
topo, you are thinking of the angel orensanz foundation. they use to have a lot of great shows there, most more jazz oriented that rock. i’ve also seen medinski, martin, and wood play there a couple of times. the environment (churchlike) is more conducive to instrumental acoustics than big high amped shows. for that yo la tengo gig they had 3 brass players join the trio to augment their old charts. i think they were street musicians. in any event, it went off so-so despite the atmosphere. i did pick up a 7″ pressing with the added horns which i will post if i ever rip from vinyl.
Et bien, que dire de plus, une tonne, mais une tonne trop superbe d’Arcade Fire, on peut pas demander mieux. Merci, mon vieux
The quality of the free distribution of the Arcade Fire concert is superb. The only similar I’ve heard is an old Smiths concert taped (yes I said taped) at The Royal Albert Hall in (if I still had the tape I’d know the year) !; about 1985/9; yes I’m that unsure ! Thanks for highlighting the need for ‘true’ material. I sometimes think the bands just don’t get the point. I am one of the many unfortunates who have yet to see Arcade Fire live and only ‘found’ them when stumbling in late on a pissed up night. God knows why but apart from Jools Holland on Hogmanay I never watch BBC2 (that’s UK T.V. ). I found a life changing experience that night and apart from the new download, spend my time seeking a Smiths bootleg to match Win and Regine’s partnership in a Morrissey and Marr bootleg. Yes I know that was a crass comparison but if you’ve got anything live worth listening to then :……………agreenerpeace@btinternet.com… the names Steve I’m in the U.K. and straight up !