The Arcade Fire

Wow! These days it's a rarity for a band to leave you completely agog as you leave the building, but The Arcade Fire achieved it tonight. This is apparently only the second time they have played in the UK, and in the daunting 1500 capacity Academy to boot (upgraded due to demand), but they took it in their stride and produced a stunning performance that left the audience singing long after the band had departed the stage.

Sold out on the back of their acclaimed album 'Funeral, they open up with 'Wake Up'; apt given that you could not wish to hear a more beautiful dirge. The song is driven by violins throughout and with a 4 voice chorus, this will jump to the top of many a list of 'things to play as they lay me to rest'.

Band members are clearly all talented musicians, and there are an extraordinary amount of instruments used. At various points we see violin (usually two), bass, rhythm and acoustic guitars, drums, keyboards, wind chimes, glockenspiel, double bass, accordion, tambourine, maracas, steel drum and, most oddly, crash helmet. Richard Parry weighs in with the most instrument changes - including during songs - and inevitably ends up wearing the helmet, as well as playing it, during 'Neighborhood #2 (Laika).' The instruments mesh together so intricately, that it would be fascinating to here them individually to marvel at the sound coming from them.

Married couple Win Butler and Régine Chassagne take the singing duties, Butler delivering like Wayne Coyne, particularly during "My Heart is an Apple' where they share vocals, ending with Chassagne singing over a sparse piano and a fist tapping the beat on a guitar - utterly captivating.

Chassagne also sings on 'Haiti', a song inspired by her parents escape from the country in the 1960's during a time of bloody murders among their peers. The fragility of her vocal is highlighted by her Jewellery Box dancing, contrasted by the light shining behind the ribbon on her hair, which makes her appear to have devil's horns - not a deliberate effect I'm sure!

Butler's considerable frame dwarfs his guitar, but this doesn't prevent him from stage diving during 'Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)', dedicated as the loud tune for the 'drunk people', who just about manage to catch him. It is a frenetic song which crescendos into a 'Day in the Life' style orchestral ending.

The encore cover of Talking Heads 'This Must Be the Place' seems misplaced, because although The Arcade Fire are clearly influenced by them it invites lazy comparisons as there is much more to them than that. In a modern setting, this is a unique band, thrilling and captivating, as shown by the closing 'In the Back Seat'. Chassagne's whispered ending rounded of the even beautifully - you are unlikely to see a band of such powerful variety for years.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.