> Reviews > Reviews 2007 > The Arcade Fire

Review by Rob.

Songs from the new album are much darker than Funeral

There haven't been too many albums released in the 2000's which can seriously be called classics. Sure there have been decent releases, but think about it for a bit. Elbows 'Cast of Thousands'? Arctics debut? Jay Z's 'Black Album'? White Stripes 'Elephant'? Interpol's first? The Strokes 'Is this it'?. All of these have their merits but it is fair to say that the decade has not been overflowing with great albums, the new age of digital downloads perhaps putting more emphasis on individual tracks rather than a collection of strong tunes. Sitting very comfortably in most peoples top 10s will be 'Funeral' by Montreal's Arcade Fire. A collection of brilliant introspective songs dealing with a journey through life but never too far away from death, it was a stunning debut. Now its follow up time and the band have embarked on a short tour of the UK to play us the songs from follow up album 'The Neon Bible'. With pre tour hype calling it an instant classic and ensuring sell out everywhere, would the band be able to justify such accolades, and more importantly would they be able to entertain us for an hour and a half or so?

Apologies to the support act tonight. I missed them, preferring to stay in one of Manchester's fine old skool pubs and have a couple of pints. I don't make a habit of missing support bands so sorry to Patrick Wolf. I will listen to your records instead. It is fair to say that most of the audience are only here for one band though, a fact confirmed at 9.15 when a huge roar accompanies the dimming of the lights. When the Arcade Fire first come on it is hard to adjust to the large number of musicians on stage, so to help you come to grips there were ten members, 2 keyboards, 2 violins, 2 brass, 2 guitars, a bass and drummer. There is not a whole lot of room up there, and their will be no throwing the guitar around the neck histrionics as it is easy to take out a fellow band member stood alongside. They don't piss around and after the briefest of hellos (to the audience not to each other) its straight into the best song off the new album, 'No cars go'. Except it is not really a new song, more a remix of a tune from their debut EP. Nonetheless it is still a powerful and tuneful masterpiece and deserves to be a single at some point in the future. Then we get 'Black Mirror' where the band show off their grungy side, and another pop masterpiece, 'Keep the car running', where they tip their (many) collective hats to their heroes Talking Heads. It become clear that they are going to play nearly all the new album. and why not. It is a brilliant album and one that in a year or so will sit easily next to Funeral, and perhaps even slightly in front.

One feature of the new album that was pointed out to me was the theme of water. We get the quirky pop of the 'Well and the Lighthouse', the intense fire of the Bowie influenced 'Black Wave', both played mid gig, and the atmospherics of encore 'Ocean of Noise' to back this theory up. One other theme throughout the album is anger, represented best by encore 'Intervention' with its strong anti war themes and is surely a take on America's stance on Iraq. 'Windowsill' is also played with some venom and comes across brilliantly in a live setting, even better than on the record. The anger on the album is directed at many things, war, religion, environmental destruction, and most of all the mass consumerism of modern America, best represented by the title track. Whereas the band had looked inwards on Funeral, they are turning their attention to the world, and clearly don't like what they see. The intensity of the new songs are really felt in the live setting and perhaps there is a case for playing the album uninterrupted in its track order.

They don't do this of course, though it is halfway through the gig before anything from Funeral is aired. 'Haiti' (with stunning vocals from Regine) and 'Crown of Love' are both ace and get some of the upstairs at the Apollo on their feet. However when they play 'Tunnels' everyone gets up and stays up, quite a feat for the laid back Manchester venue upstairs, singing along to every word of this classic song. The main set ends with mass hysteria as they play 'Rebellion (Lies)' perhaps their most famous tune and it is suitably powerful. As mentioned they play a couple of slower tunes from the new album for the encores, 'Antichrist Television Blues' the nearest they come to emulating Springstein circa Nebraska is especially powerful. This leaves Win Butler to take centre stage thank us for coming, one of the few things he said to the audience tonight, preferring to let the music talk for him. Then the chugging guitar riff to 'Wake up' my favourite song, leads the crowd into a mass singalong to close a superb show. Unlike the shows recently there are no outside busking appearances or other quirks, but its no matter. I feel really happy at the end of the show despite listening to the bleak subject material across most of the new tracks. In fact the only complaints were the slightly muddy sound quality and the omission of 'Power Out' the song that got me into them back in 2005. The sheer amount of tee shirt vendors at the doors told me here is one band on the up. Catch them playing these awesome tunes at a festival near you this summer.

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