Arcade Fire at Judson Memorial Church
Source: morecowbell.net
A week ago I made my first trip to New York City (I know, I know… what took me so long right?) to see the last three nights of Arcade Fire’s five show run at Judson Memorial Church. Prior to the trip I was much more excited to finally visit NYC than to see Arcade Fire again. But i’m pretty sure that years from now, when i reflect on my first trip to New York most of my best memories of the trip will be the concerts along with all the friends and people I met.
Thursday Night
About 15 minutes after I entered the church, I was sitting with friends in the balcony, when someone asked if anyone was sitting in the seat next to me, where i’d laid my coat. I looked up as i said “No, go right ahead”, and saw none other than David Byrne standing there. I ended up chatting (very briefly) with David about the Judson’s gorgeous architecture and stained glass. Then, just before the show was to start, I was walking back up the stairs and walked past Lou Reed going up the stairs to the balcony as well. All this and the show hadn’t even began yet, I knew the weekend was going to be amazing and pretty surreal.
(note: i’m not usually one to get that excited about seeing “celebrities”, but i have to admit that watching my current favorite band alongside a couple of my all time favorite artists is pretty damn cool.)
Thursday nights show was my first time hearing the Neon Bible songs live in person, and to my surprise, all but maybe 2 or 3 of the new songs sounded even better live than they do on record. The biggest surprise for me was how great the title track is live, as it’s not really a favorite of mine on the album. The show was definitely quite good, but it just didn’t quite measure up to the 3 previous times i’d seen them. But most people seemed to feel they were getting better every night and that trend continued through Saturday night’s show.
As the band was walking into the crowd for their encore of ‘Wake Up’, i noticed David Fricke (one of the few great writers still left at Rolling Stone) standing next to me. From our very brief chat it was obvious that he was enjoying the show just as much as I was. You can read David’s great review of Neon Bible here (even if the 3.5 stars is a bit low).
Setlist: Black Mirror, Keep The Car Running, (Antichrist Television Blues), No Cars Go, Haiti, Black Wave/Bad Vibrations, My Body Is A Cage, Windowsill, The Well & The Lighthouse, Power Out ->Rebellion (Lies), Intervention
Encore: Neon Bible, Wake Up (in the crowd)
Friday Night
Opening the show with ‘No Cars Go’, it was obvious that this show was going to be a bit higher energy than the previous night. ‘Black Mirror’ was much tighter than the version that opened Thursday as well. One of the highlights of the night for me was hearing their newer cover ‘Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son’ (written by Serge Gainsbourg in 1965), which Regine sings lead on. Even though i doubt many people in the crowd knew the original song (myself included), the uptempo and almost disco beat of Arcade Fire’s version definitely got people into it.
The other big highlight of this show for me was the transition of ‘Ocean of Noise’ into ‘Rebellion’. Usually the band plays ‘Power Out’ into ‘Rebellion’, but i found this newer transition to be even better. I’ve got my fingers crossed that ‘Ocean of Noise’, which is one of their best new songs live, is one of the two songs they play on SNL this coming Saturday.
Once again they ended the show by playing ‘Wake Up’ in the middle of the crowd, only this time i was about 5? from the circle they had made to play the song, which was a lot more enjoyable to be a part of, rather than just watch from the balcony the night before. I apologize to anyone standing around me during that song, as I was definitely singing at the top of my lungs.
Setlist: No Cars Go, Haiti, Black Mirror, Keep The Car Running, (Antichrist Television Blues), Black Wave/Bad Vibrations, Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son, The Well and the Lighthouse, Ocean of Noise ->Rebellion (Lies), Intervention
Encore: Neon Bible, Wake Up (In the crowd)
Saturday Night
The fifth and final night (my third) of their NYC run was webcast live on NPR’s ‘All Songs Considered‘ (I met ASC host Bob Boilen on Thursday, very cool/nice guy). You can download or listen to the show as well as stream an interview with Regine & Will here. You also can stream interviews with some of the dedicated fans who waited hours in the cold here.
They opened the show just as the previous 2 had ended, playing ‘Wake Up’ out among the crowd. As a result of that gesture, it definitely set the tone and energy for the night early on. It only took a song or two after that to recognize that the energy of the band and crowd were just on a completely different level than the previous 2 (or 4 according to many who attended every night) shows. Win, who has been battling sickness the last week or two, thanked the crowd for making him (and the band) feel better.
The encore began with ‘My Body Is A Cage’, which Win stated beforehand that the doctor told him not to sing it. And just as they did Thursday night, Pietro & Colin (and Kelly on Thursday) snuck up to the VIP balcony during the intro to play horns from up above the crowd, adding a very cool “surround sound” effect.
After ‘Neon Bible’, the band left and I was secretly hoping that they would do a second encore for the last night, to which they quickly came back onstage and tuned up. I heard a few of the guitar notes to ‘Laika’ and right away I knew the audience wasn’t quite prepared for what they were about to get hit with. Along with ‘Power Out’, ‘Laika’ is easily the bands most aggressive live song, and it definitely whipped the crowd into quite a frenzy to close out an amazing show, as well as a great run of shows, not only in NYC, but London & Montreal as well.
This show is definitely up there with the best of the six times I’ve seen the band since their 400 Bar show in 2004. And the great thing is, they’re only going to get better and tighter over the next year and a half. I can hardly imagine how amazing their shows this fall are going to be, but I know that I will do everything I can to see this band many times over the next year and I suggest everyone else do the same. Bands like Arcade Fire don’t come around all that often, as cliche as that may sound, but they truly are something very very special.
Setlist: Wake Up (in the crowd), Black Mirror, Keep The Car Running, No Cars Go, Haiti, Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son, Black Wave/Bad Vibrations, The Well and the Lighthouse, Ocean of Noise -> Rebellion (Lies), Intervention
Encore: My Body Is A Cage, Neon Bible
Encore 2: Neighborhood#2 (Laika)
View the rest of my so-so photos from the shows here.
View some amazing photos from the shows here (photos by Kathryn Yu).
Pre-Order Neon Bible from Insound (Regular CD, Deluxe CD, Vinyl LP)
