Arcade Fire
Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff, Thurs 9 Dec 201o
Words: Stephen Nottingham
Arcade Fire hit their stride during their second song, a compelling Neighbour #3 (Laïka), after a shaky Ready To Start. Once they had mastered the booming acoustic, the band from Montreal set the capacity crowd alight with an incendiary performance.
Lead singer Win Butler had the measure of the Cardiff International Arena. On introducing Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains), he described it as “a bit like a mall” and therefore an appropriate location for the song. Fortunately, Arcade Fire play arenas with the same passion as the more interesting smaller venues they once favoured. Win did not venture into the audience here though, and his brother Will’s wildest activity involved bashing the hell out of a drum rather than scaling the lighting rig.
With a loss in intimacy comes a gain in staging, with the suburban theme being established using sports floodlights, an overpass backdrop, and a scoreboard-style video screen. Short film loops – clouds, highways, palm trees and two women in a swimming pool – were mixed with live black-and-white images. All this perfectly complemented the cinematic soundscape. The lighting was at its most impressive during Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out), with batteries of flashing white and red lights seemingly capable of draining Cardiff’s electricity supply.
This was the first time I’ve heard a rock band name-check Richard Llewellyn and his novel How Green Was My Valley. They knew it through the picturesque 1941 John Ford film. The contrast between creeping ubiquitous Americana, as typified by T.G.I. Friday’s and Hooters (both across the road from the C.I.A.), and their childhood vision of Wales informed their introduction to a rousing version of The Suburbs.
A pound on every ticket sold for this concert went to Partners in Health, a charity dedicated to helping those living in poverty. The band particularly supports their work in Haiti, the homeland of band member Régine Chasagne. Exploring another Cardiff connection, husband Win Butler told the story of how Roald Dahl’s daughter Ophelia co-founded the organization. The band then launched into No Cars Go, closely followed by the jaunty Haiti.
Other highlights included Rococco, Rebellion (Lies), Keep The Car Running, and the uplifting chorale finale of Wake Up. The last encore Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels), a song about tunnelling through snow, was prefaced by Win’s wry nod to the recent weather. He wished the crowd a white Christmas: “it’s good for the soul.”
Arcade Fire tour with eight talented musicians, but there are no solos or displays of instrumental virtuosity. Instead, they work to create a highly-distinctive wall-of-sound, with the songs building a towering sonic edifice that packs a strong emotional punch. This is a band that really connects with its audience. It’s pretty intense. If, as a friend suggested, Arcade Fire are the REM of their generation, The Suburbs is probably their Green. Let’s hope the fire keeps burning.
