Judgment Day redux

Six months later, and that photo is still creepy.

Since Judgment Day came and went with the release of "Neon Bible," Arcade Fire posts have tapered off. But frontman Win Butler did an interview with Pitchfork, and I wanted to give a heads-up for the benefit of the healthy people who don't read Pfork twice, three times a day.

Nothing TOO earth-shattering in the Q&A, mostly just breaking down all the symbolism on "Neon Bible," which you own, right?

Pitchfork interview with The Arcade Fire
The Arcade Fire — Intervention (MP3)
The Arcade Fire — Antichrist Television Blues (MP3)

Arcade Fire @ Spreckels 4-26-07

When the first four songs of the set are powerful enough to close the set, you know you're in for something special.


Just a few months ago, the Arcade Fire seemed pensive and unsure on stage as they tried to get comfortable with their new songs. Last night, the band played with complete confidence, which allowed them to play with the energy and emotion that has made them so beloved to begin with.

Starting with "Black Mirror," "No Cars Go." "Haiti" and "Wake Up," the band (10 members strong) raced from instrument to instrument, quickly breaking sweats and tambourines in the process.


But as they continued to click off their most powerful songs, "Power Out," "Intervention," "Rebellion (Lies)," "Tunnels," it became clear that the climax of the show would be something completely different.

Instead of a blowout, they showcased some of the best bottled-up songs off "Neon Bible," ... "Keep the Car Running," then "The Well and the Lighthouse," and finally the title track.

One of the biggest surprises of the show was how well frontman Win Butler's multi-instrumentalist wife, Regine, commanded the stage. She was a solo artist before the band formed, but last night, as she moved from the side of the stage to the front to the drum kit and back again, she proved to be a true rock star.


There were so many moments in the set that produced the kind of raw, reflexive emotion that made us music fans in the first place. The music, instead of tradition, brought people out of their seats.

Most of the things people yell at concerts are annoying at best, but last night someone summed up the whole crowd's feeling about halfway through the show: "play forever."

The set list:
Black Mirror, No Cars Go, Haiti, Wake Up, My Body is a Cage, Neighborhood #2 (Laika), Intervention, Ocean of Noise, Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), Rebellion (Lies), Antichrist Television Blues, Keep the Car Running

Encore: The Well and the Lighthouse
Encore 2: Neon Bible

A couple of side notes from the show: Win announced that a dollar from each ticket was going to a clinic in Haiti that provided free medical care. He also shed some light on the nearly unknown opener, Cass McCombs. He said Arcade Fire used to open for McCombs in Montreal, so this was a way to show some love for him. An extremely cool way, indeed.

Arcade Fire backup plan

If you got shut out of tickets for tonight's Arcade Fire show, the next best thing might be to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla for a screening of the Talking Heads concert movie, "Stop Making Sense" (an especially fitting choice considering how many times Arcade Fire gets compared to the Talking Heads).



If you don't count "This Is Spinal Tap," then "Stop Making Sense" is the best music movie of all time. You always hear about bands being better live. The Talking Heads practically created new songs on stage. David Byrne's seemingly boneless body movements turn the whole thing into pop art.

If you go, when Byrne starts running around the stage at the end of "Life During Wartime," get up and do a lap in the theater down, up and back around the aisle. Get everyone to do it.



Museum of Contemporary Art link

You could also go to the Mute Math show at the House of Blues and make fun of indie-pop opener Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Please, don't name your band/album/song after a real living person. You'll get pestered for weeks after that person dies. If you're thinking about starting a band called Chin Up Ariel Sharon, just don't.

Arcade Fire opening act announced

As usual, Rosey over at SD Dialed In keeps tabs like nobody else, living up to her info junkie nickname by figuring out that the opener for tomorrow night's Arcade Fire show will be singer-songwriter Cass McCombs.

Here's a myspace photo of ....?

I hadn't heard of him either.

S.D. Dialed In

Cass McCombs on Myspace

Arcade Fire Mystery Date

With the Arcade Fire's San Diego show only a few days away, one question remains:


Who will open the show?

People I've talked to at the label and the venue think that SOMEBODY will be opening, but the band hasn't said whom yet.

The show is kind of a one-off, as it's the first gig since they got back from Europe and is the only show before they head to Coachella for the weekend. After that, it's into a full-on U.S. tour with regular opening acts.

So I'm posing this conspiracy theory: It's going to be Of Montreal. They are playing Coachella on Friday, they aren't playing beforehand, they're not too big as to overshadow Arcade Fire in the opening slot, and they're avant garde enough to make a good pairing.


Or, at least, it should be Of Montreal. Either way, let's just be glad that Win's voice got better so that the show actually can go on.

Arcade Fire — Antichrist Television Blues (MP3)
Of Montreal — Suffer for Fashion (MP3)

If you don't know, now you know

We're No. 2 ... We're No. 2.


Notorious B.I.G.'s posthumous greatest hits album was too much for the Arcade Fire, with Biggie beating "Neon Bible" by about 7,000 copies. Still, 92,000 friendly units shifted is pretty bad-ass.

Personal Arcade Fire love aside, I really thought they would top the charts. I knew Biggie would be the toughest competition — those songs haven't aged one minute, lost one degree of fire — but Biggie only had two albums. Shell out a little extra cash and you have the whole collection. Are there really that many B.I.G. complete-ists who need the new tracks that Puffy Frankenstein'd together with unused Biggie verses?

Nonetheless ... I like this young man.

Judgment Day

So no sudden floods or plagues of locusts (yet), but the music site Idolator did notice one Neon Biblical tidbit: the music world has come to a halt.


They either caught a glitch or employed some trickery as, unsurprisingly, "music" brings up tons of results now.

Shout out to the lovely owners of M-Theory Music, who stayed open past 12:30, letting me get down there for the midnight sale. Co-owner Heather says the album really clicks on the third listen.

OK, let the judging begin. Here's a question to start with: If the album tops the charts, will it be the coolest No. 1 since Radiohead's "Kid A"?

Have a good weekend

Go out and make some new, special friends.



Drew Barrymore, the real-life Penny Lane.

Sak vide pa kanpe

According to a Google search (I'm not going to play like I knew this), it's a Creole proverb meaning "An empty sack cannot stand up." You could see it, written in tape, on Win Buter's guitar during the Arcade Fire's performance on SNL last night — until he smashed the thing to pieces.

Smashing a guitar on SNL right before your rabidly anticipated new album comes out: Cool? Cliched? Just plain dumb?

Before answering, consider that one of his strings clearly broke about halfway through the song. At the end he seemed to let out his frustration, pulling out the rest of them and then pounding the acoustic into the ground. or maybe he was frustrated about the bad, vocal-drowning mix. Now, cool, cliched or just plain dumb?

Meanwhile, Hard, Cutting has a good rundown with some backstage action.

How will the scalpers get around this one?

Arcade Fire tix go on sale Saturday morning, and it will be even crazier because the venue is assigned seating. With everyone clicking at once, who will get the best seats and how much will the tix be going for on eBay at 10:05 a.m.?

Ticketfucker is trying to stem some of that by making the best seats will-call-only and making you show ID when you pick them up. Here's what they have to say:

"Premium seating for this event will be subject to specific "WILL CALL ONLY" restrictions. You will be notified during the purchase process if you happen to obtain any of these seats. These tickets are also subject to a two ticket limit and may only be picked up at the venue box office by the ORIGINAL PURCHASER on the evening of the performance. In order to pick them up you will be required to provide a government-issued photo ID and the credit card used to make the purchase. Upon picking up the tickets the original purchaser and guest will be required to directly enter the venue. Please note that THESE TICKETS ARE NON-TRANSFERABLE AND WILL BE VOIDED IF RESOLD. PREMIUM SEATING IS ONLY AVAILABLE THROUGH PHONE AND INTERNET. Note that the four ticket limit becomes a two ticket limit for the premium seats. "

The optimist in me says HORRAY! and that the "directly enter the venue" part is a great idea. The pessimist in me says the best seats won't even be available to the public - 91X is already pimping the show on the air. But the kid in me likes the frosting. (cereal humor)

Thanks to D.C. the Brain Supreme for the tip.

Arcade Fire concert update?

SignOn says Arcade Fire tix go on sale Feb. 24, a week from Saturday (they also call them a buzz band; how cute). No word from Ticketmaster yet.

I promise this site won't just be a running update of show and ticket sale announcements. This one's special.

The show is April 26 at Spreckles; that much HAS been announced.

P.S. There are tracks off "Neon Bible" floating around on Hype Machine and elbo. I'm just not going after them. In the Web 2.0 world of accidental and intentional song and album leaks, this is one case where I'm going old school and waiting to hear it all at once when it comes out.

My city's NOT a sucker: Arcade Fire

Oh Holy Night...

The Arcade Fire are coming. Not only are they coming to San Diego, not only are they coming to S.D. two days before Coachella as a warm-up gig, not only is it their first stop after their European swing, they're coming to Spreckles.

The date is April 26, a Thursday. No opener or ticket sale date announced yet.

In a city that bands frequently skip, the Arcade Fire are choosing to play here instead of taking a couple of extra days off between the European leg and heading out to the desert, for a festival, no less, to start the U.S. leg.

That's not just luck; that's providence. Damn.

You may have heard that the band has been playing acoustic sets in the theater lobbies at the end of their recent shows, so DON'T leave when the lights come up.

I rarely gush, but, trust me, this is gushable.

Meanwhile, the band's creepy Website keeps getting creepier. Follow the link and then click on "guns" to watch them take on the Clash's "Guns of Brixton." Like most Arcade Fire covers, it sounds so completely unlike the original that it takes a second to get used to, then it jams.

creepy Neon Bible page

A reminder that the countdown to the "Neon Bible" release date, a.k.a. Judgment Day, continues on the right side of the blog.

Get ready for the judgment day...

...The "Neon Bible" says so...

Since the new Arcade Fire album is going to be the ONLY thing that matters in 2007, a post on it seemed like the best way to kick off the blog. The second coming is March 6. Start repenting now for all the bad music you bought in 2006. (Wolfmother, perhaps? Or the Fergie album you hide behind the toilet so nobody finds it?)

Even the band is getting in on the hyperbole...

All joking aside, but sticking with the religious theme, I’m keeping the faith. If any band can actually deliver on unreasonably high hype and pressure, it has to be the Arcade Fire. So, un-blogger-ish as it is, I’m not posting any of the tracks from the new album that are floating around. But I am keeping a countdown to Neon Judgment Day along the right rail.

In the meantime, enjoy these other awesome things made of neon:






And, of course, Neon Deion (check out the curls)