There are any number of adjectives one could use to describe last Saturday's Arcade Fire show at the Chicago Theater: awe-inspiring, electric, earth-shaking, sensational, stimulating, and brilliant are just a few that come to mind. But there really isn't any adjective that does justification to the utopian collaboration of fantastic surrealism and theatrical song displayed Saturday night - a picturesque performance of oddity and perfectly crafted songs from one of the premier indie bands existing today.
We were able to catch the second of Arcade Fire's three night stint at The Chicago Theater. As Jim DeRogatis writes in his article for the Chicago Sun-Times,
The husband-and-wife team of singers, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Win Butler and Regine Chassagne and their eight versatile bandmates sold out a three-night stand at the Chicago Theatre in a matter of minutes. (The mini-residency began Friday and concludes Sunday.) Judging from the prices scalpers were charging for tickets that originally sold for $31 (with a dollar going to a charity fighting AIDS and hunger in Africa), the group easily could have done an additional three nights here, and the same has been true across the country.
In describing Friday's performance, DeRogatis says
the instrument-swapping lineup suffered from a sketchy mix through the first few songs as they incorporated ornate and baroque touches such as hurdy-gurdy, mandolin, French horn, tuba, trombone, two violins and even a scaled-down pipe organ, in addition to indie rock's standard bass, drums, guitar and synthesizer.
But the rollicking, syncopated rhythmic undertow combined with the musicians' unflagging energy and relentless enthusiasm to carry things along until the sound problems were sorted out, and with only one notable misstep -- the dragging and maudlin "My Body is a Cage" -- the set consistently built momentum through 90 energizing minutes as one high point followed and topped another, including "No Cars Go," "The Well & the Lighthouse" and "Neighborhood #3 [Power Out]."
The conflict between spirituality and consumerism is one of the major themes running through "The Neon Bible," and Butler -- a born-and-raised Texan whose tall, gaunt frame and penchant for old-time clothing brings to mind a character from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" -- is a harsh critic of what he sees as the hypocrisy of organized religion.
"Workin' for the church while your life falls apart/Singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart," he howled in "Intervention," another of the evening's highlights, as the crowd clapped and sang along.
It's ironic, then, that the Arcade Fire's spirited, rousing and supremely celebratory show ultimately evoked nothing so much as an underground rock version of an old-time, gospel-tent revival meeting. Or maybe that was exactly the point.
Much of the same details described by DeRogatis were visible in the Saturday night performance as well. The clash of musical cultures, with Winn dressed in his traditional old-time vested attire, while Regine Chassagne looked like Cindi Lauper in her polka dot dress and red high heels. I thought most of the songs they played sounded impressive live.
Following an energetic set by opening band Electrelane, Arcade Fire brought as much pomp and circumstance to their performance as a high school band at halftime. They played through a number of hits, including "No Cars Go", "Keep the Car Running," and an encore of "Laika," but it was the entire performance aspect of the show that truly captured it all for me.
The backdrop was playing weird video clips of things like synchronized swimming nuns. There were five white circles all around the stage that they were projecting videos and images on, as well. There were a lot of bright, fluorescent colors and neon lights, the guitar cord even changed colors.
At one point when Regine and Winn were trading verses, Regine would stand frozen, hands over face in the spotlight when she wasn't singing, as if her ability to come alive only existed when she was able to sing.
Two members of the band spent a good portion of the concert to the right of the stage running around banging on drums, cords, the floor, lights - like two members of the Blue Man group suddenly trapped on a Chicago Theater stage, seeking escape through percussion. At one point, one of the band members kept throwing up a megaphone up in the air and catching it just in time to shout something into it. And when they eventually ran into each other and knocked each other to the ground, the audience's cheers swelled in response to the heightened energy the two members brought to the performance.
Their first encore was "My Body is a Cage." They brought out a life sized cardboard cutout of Winn with a white screen where the face should be, and projected his singing face onto it. Perhaps at that moment the realization of what draws people to see Arcade Fire live was most visible to me, as Winn's voice echoed truths from behind a cutout, while he stood atop the mountain of percussion instruments and band members at the organ, preaching his gospel to the masses. Is music the channel Arcade Fire show chooses to convey their ideas to the world - one infinitely more energetic than most Sunday sermons - but perhaps just as powerful to a generation entranced by performance? Are we, as spectators to their show, simply "Workin' for the church while your life falls apart/Singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart?"
If so, then perhaps the best adjective to describe Saturday's show is inspiring.
Arcade Fire at Chicago Theater pictures
Check out another review of the show at The Live Music Blog.
Also, stop by Music for Kids Who Can't Read Good and check out Taylor's review and pictures from the show.
Arcade Fire - "Intervention"