Best. Show. Ever.

In case you haven't been paying attention (but I know you have), Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem have put out two of the best, most critically acclaimed albums of the year. So, it was with great anticipation that Stacy and I awaited their show together this Monday at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. The unfortunate part was the cost, which at $40 bucks a ticket is the most expensive show I have seen in a loooooong time. But since AF is the hottest band on the planet right now, and celebrity sightings at their recent shows include the likes of Drew Barrymore, Jake Gyllenhaal and Mandy Moore, I'm pretty sure the next time they come around the tickets will be twice as expensive. The other unfortunate part was the location; basketball gyms were just not constructed for concerts and the sound in this place was horrific.

LCD started the night, and quite truthfully, they were a tad boring. They sound much better on the record than they did live, and part of it had to do with the sound issues that they were trying to work out since this venue doesn't host a lot of concerts. The other part of it had to do with the fact that they were just boring to watch -- the singer just basically stood there with little to no movement. But, they were able to whip the crowd into a fist-pumpint frenzy playing their hit "North American Scum" and their closer (New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down) was also fantastic.

While I enjoyed LCD (Stacy not so much), they were only a passing pleasure in the musical monstrosity that is Arcade Fire. AF took the stage to a raucous and screaming crowd and proceeded to put on an unbelievable show. If you haven't seen them before, they are a huge band. They count 7 regular members, but tour with an additional 3 bringing their size to a staggering 10. And among those 10 members, they play what seems like a 1,000 instruments (I kind you not, I have never seen so many instruments on one stage). The most incredible thing is that all 10 members play with the same kind of intense ferocity giving their shows a seemingly theatrical-like quality. The show was pretty Neon Bible heavy, but they played a number of songs from Funeral as well as a song from their EP. Highlights of the show included: the crowd going bonkers when they came on stage, seeing the girls kill it on their violins live, hearing my wife shriek when husband and wife Win and Regine jumped off the stage and bolted a few rows into the crowd, hearing Win yell "with the lights out" during the song Power Out and having the lights go out in the entire building, watching Regine play an impressive vareity of instruments (by my count she played piano, keyboard, organ, guitar, violin, accordion, drums and two instruments we couldn't even identify), watching Regine play the accordion solo in No Cars Go, me trying not to cry as they played No Cars Go, all ten members of the band lifting their voices in unison during No Cars Go, all ten members of the band singing in unison on about every song, the crowd belting it out to Tunnels (in hindsight, I think it was just me singing belting it out, but it sounded like the whole crowd was), and the entire crowd singing Wake Up to end the show.

But there is one moment that trumps them all. Will Butler (brother of lead singer Win) is known for his crazy and spontaneous antics during their shows. And boy, he did not disappoint. He plays every instrument like he's trying to break it, and is constantly flying all over the stage--both of which are incredibly entertaining to watch. During the last song of their set before the encore, the band played a blistering version of Rebellion. Will was playing a snare drum that was wrapped around his neck and whipping the thing all around the stage. In the middle of the song, he jumps out onto the scaffolding that was supporting the stage, and starts frantically beating both his snare drum and the scaffolding. Then, he decides he's going up. He gets a good 25-30 feet up above the crowd, locks his arm into the scaffolding, and alternates between beating the leaving daylights out of his drum and pounding the scaffolding. The place was going bananas. I thought he was going to die. It was amazing.


This is Will on the scaffolding. Unfortunately the picture sucks and doesn't do the moment justice, but the reflection you see is the back of his shirt. The band in down on the right and the crowd on the left.