Arcade Fire show at the Pepsi Coliseum

Went to the Arcade Fire show last night at the Fairgrounds. Damn, what a show those guys put on. I'm a relatively late-comer to the AF bandwagon, and really I'm only familiar with their latest album, The Suburbs. Yes, I know the hipsters out there are scoffing at me right now (assuming any of 'em are reading this), but hey...there's only so much a man can keep track of.

Anyway, they played some of my favorite cuts from The Suburbs---Sprawl, We used to wait, and The Suburbs---as well as a few classics from Funeral and some cuts from Neon Bible. As for a more detailed set list, well...you can go get it from somewhere else. I said this blog would be entertaining, not informative or accurate.

The really awesome thing about the show was the general production of the thing. Of course the music was hot, but there were also the lights, the weird black & white found-footage playing on the jumbo-screen above the stage, the occasional throwing of random objects out into the audience, the double drum set action, and of course, the sight of six musicians lined up ten feet apart, spanning the entire stage really made this feel like a show, like a spectacle, like something Big Time.

The National opened up for them, playing a healthy ten-song set. I don't know for sure what it was, maybe something with the acoustics, but something seemed off. Granted, I'd never heard them play before last night, it seemed like the lead singer was mic-ed too much, but muffled at the same time. Anyway, there were a few cool songs from their set, like Mr. November, but I'm gonna have to spend a few hours listening to their sh*t before I feel like I'm in position to make a final call on them.