I’m not going to make too big a deal about this as Zoviet just sang Arcade Fire praises, buuut Topo and I saw them last night and they rocked and we rocked out. The order went kind of like this, oh wait, I’ve got the setlist right here in my pocket (see Topo pictured above avec list).
We were really happy to hear the tracks off of Funeral after shelving the album in recent months in favor of Neon Bible. They mixed surprisingly well with the new tracks though the new ones do not have the same energy and earnest desperation that “Wake Up” and “Power Out” have live. That was most evident in the band members themselves, they seemed to explode on the first chords of “Rebellion” as did the crowd.
Now you may be wondering, “How is it that you got the setlist?” First, I did not get it, my much more gregarious wife rushed the stage and valiantly tore it from the hands of another concert goer. None of this would have been possible if we were not sitting in the front row. Well, almost the front row. See there is a standing room only area right in front of the stage at the Greek Theatre, closer than the orchestra seating in the ‘pit‘ area. In one of the truly paradoxical moments in Ticketmaster history, we were given tickets to the ‘pit’ without actually paying the extra dough and waiting in line, some kind of computer snafu. We were ecstatic about this twist of fate, finally feeling karma had caught up with the corporate suits. Yet Ticketmaster could not let this injustice stand, they relabeled our tickets ‘pit reserve’ and put us in the the first row of seats rather than the orchestra pit. Who knows how they pulled it off, but something tells me that the $50 (in)convenience charge probably aided their efforts.
Now for one of my favorite Arcade Fire covers, too bad they didn’t play any last night.
: Arcade Fire - Born on a Train (Magnetic Fields) :
