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Concert Review
Arcade Fire
April 24, 2011 @ UIC Pavilion
By Dave Miller
Long gone are the days of Arcade Fire being indie rock’s secret. The Canadian band has graduated to the big stage of arena rock thanks to a reputation for great live performances and three critically-acclaimed albums that have progressively upped the artistic ante. Sunday’s concert at the UIC Pavilion, the second of a three-show stand at the venue, not only showed the group is up for the challenge, but it made a case for being the best band in the world right now.
The band came blasting out of the gate on opener “Month of May” after a video lead-in which contained some Chicago scenes. Regine Chassagne, wife of frontman Win Butler, bashed away on her own drum kit to boost the booms of drummer Jeremy Gara. “Rebellion,” which is good enough to close shows, followed with Butler ditching his jacket to reveal his shirt already soaked with sweat. He broke the barrier between performer and fans by hopping off the stage and climbing into the basketball seats on the left side of the stage as a spotlight tracked him. “Neighborhood #2 (Laike)” continued the show’s walloping start. The band took it down a notch with “City with No Children,” allowing the crowd to catch its collective breath.
Arcade Fire prominently featured its 2010 release, The Suburbs, and with good reason. The ambitious album’s cohesive theme of examining suburban life has resonated beyond the indie scene. Official confirmation came in Arcade Fire’s surprise Grammy win for Album of the Year. Its exploding popularity was evident when the crowd sung along to the album’s title track. The band is at the top of its game right now. Watching it now is like watching the Stones tour behind Exile on Main St. or Public Enemy behind Fear of a Black Planet or Nirvana during its Nevermind days. Arcade Fire is at the peak of its artistic powers at this moment in time. As it played an old favorite, “No Cars Go,” Butler surveyed the fully involved arena and beamed like he was on top of the world, then glanced at his wife and flashed a smile.
It can be difficult to see everything that’s happening on stage at any given moment as the eight band members switch positions and instruments as a matter of course. Butler’s brother, Will, is the most frenetic and fellow multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry causes quite a commotion himself. But if there’s a foil to the band’s leading man among the cacophony of chaos onstage, it’s Chassagne. She radiates a positive energy and spirit and loses herself in the music and performance whether she’s playing drums, keyboards, xylophone or hurdy gurdy. Her manner and high vocals, exotic and cartoon-like at the same time, color the group’s show and sound like a mod French Impressionist. The main set closer, “Sprawl II,” saw Chassagne twirling like a ballerina and waving long ribbons to wonderous effect.
The encore of “Ready to Start,” “Keep the Car Running” and “Wake Up” (“We’ve got to play this one since it’s Easter,” Butler said) ended the show like it started – gloriously. A string broke on Butler’s guitar during the finale, and he proceeded to rip out all of the strings from the instrument, and then tossed them into the crowd before leaving the stage after a thrilling performance that made every second count.
The setlist:
Month Of May
Rebellion
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
City with No Children
Rococo
Intervention
The Suburbs
My Body is a Cage
No Cars Go
Haiti
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
We Used to Wait
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
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Ready to Start
Keep the Car Running
Wake Up
Start: 8:59 p.m./Finish: 10:38 p.m.
Totals: 17 songs, one hour 39 minutes
XZo
The National with Win Butler
April 24, 2011 @ UIC Pavilion
By Dave Miller
The National played a passionate opening set that centered on Matt Berninger’s baritone vocals and was heavy on the guitar attack of brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner. Another pair of brothers, Bryan and Scott Devendorf, propelled the band on drums and bass, respectively. A pair of horn players augmented the sound.
Berninger’s vocals and his songs’ melodies make for rich-sounding rock. The Brooklyn-based band featured six songs from its 2007 album Boxer and a half dozen more from the 2010 release High Violet. From up close you could see the band’s intensity, but I’m not sure if its performance projected throughout the arena even though the Dessner brothers did their best. The set received a boost from a pair of guest appearances by the headliners. Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry joined The National for “Afraid of Everyone” and “Conversation 16” in mid-set and later Win Butler dueted with Berninger on “Start a War.”
Apparently, Berninger is a member of the same wine club that Eddie Vedder belongs to. The National singer drank both red and white, and even handed over an open bottle along with a handful of cups to fans in the front row. Berninger also grabbed some jelly beans out of his pocket and tossed them into the crowd to celebrate Easter. “They’re still good,” Berninger said of beans that fell to the ground. “Each of those jelly beans has a memory stick in them with a new single from the Flaming Lips.” After Butler’s appearance during which Arcade Fire’s frontman looked more thrilled to be on stage than even the openers were to have him as a guest, the set closed strongly with “Mr. November” and “Terrible Love.”
The National’s setlist:
Anyone’s Ghost
Mistaken for Strangers
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Slow Show
Squalor Victoria
Afraid of Everyone
Conversation 16
Apartment Story
England
Fake Empire
Start a War
Mr. November
Terrible Love
Start: 7:30 p.m./Finish: 8:28 p.m.
Totals: 13 songs, 58 minutes