The last time I saw a proper Arcade Fire gig (BDO doesn’t really count) I was completely blown away despite the fact it was actually my third time seeing the band. That gig was perfection: the best Sydney audience I was ever a part of, the band’s first ever Sydney show, and a room which seemed made for the bombastic Arcade Fire catalogue. It might have even been better than the first time I saw the band here in Vancouver at the Commodore in December 2004.

Last night’s show at the Pacific Coliseum was a glaring reminder of just how far Arcade Fire have moved from those early Pitchfork/blogger hyped days into the world’s newest, smartest arena rock band. Rock shows in such big venues are extremely hard to pull off (Radiohead, U2, and Coldplay are probably the only ones doing it well) but the sonic assault that is an Arcade Fire show ensures that this band have the power to blast through the back wall of an arena. And last night, the eight members of Arcade Fire did just that.

Making last night’s success more impressive is the fact that The Suburbs is actually their least arena-friendly album which meant that many of last night’s highlights were the numerous Funeral songs that were belted out to an adoring crowd (all three Neon Bible tracks were also similarly momentous). That’s not to say that The Suburbs material didn’t translate well live in a big room – most of it did.

Emerging onto the stage underneath a billboard that functioned as a screen (which itself sat in front of a massive backdrop featuring highway flyovers heading into the suburban abyss), the band immediately launched into the most appropriate opener from the new record, Ready to Start. At this point the audience pretty much lost their minds down on the floor where we were and the band responded with an impassioned performance. The band then immediately ducked back into their catalogue for Laika and No Cars Go. It was evident during Laika that Arcade Fire, while still one of the world’s best live bands, are a bit older these days as the manic stage antics of Richard Reed Parry and Will Butler were more or less non-existent last night. There were no helmets, no tackles, no near-death experiences. I’m not criticizing them for this…but I am glad I saw the band a few times when you never knew what was going to happen on stage.

Regine then took centre-stage for a two songs which formed the early peak in the set. Haiti, perhaps even more integral to the band’s set these days, always ALWAYS impresses me live. On Funeral it does not stand out but every time I see Arcade Fire live I’m always blown away with what they do with Haiti live. It helps that Regine is an impossibly engaging performer (decked out in a pale blue dress, red tights, and heavy black boots). Perhaps my favourite song of the year, Sprawl II. followed. While I’m still not sure the band have completely nailed this one down live, it was five minutes of unbridled joy.

The band then continued with a number of songs from The Suburbs including Modern Man and Rococo (which I am not a fan of but it’s big finale worked well last night) and the title track. Personally, The Suburbs was one of the songs that just didn’t work in an arena…the show just seemed to crawl a bit. Suburban War came next and I was happy to hear that one as the band don’t play that one every night and it’s one of my favourites off the album.

The show then made a turn toward its triumphant conclusion with the huge organ sound heralding Intervention. We Used To Wait came next and really worked well as Win was freed up from an instrument and he was able to move about and really connect with the crowd.

Then came the inevitable pairing of Power Out and Rebellion. If you were there or have ever seen the band live you know how incredible this is. Last night was no exception. It was at this point that I looked around the Coliseum to see thousands and thousands of people in a hockey arena screaming and waving and generally losing their minds. It was a stark reminder that the Arcade Fire are a Big Band.

A raucous and haphazard Month Of May followed before the band ended the main set with the always glorious and poignant Tunnels. Snow fell on the freeways on the screens (a nice visual marriage of AF themes) as the band reminded me of how this whole journey started.

The inevitable encore consisted of Keep The Car Running and Wake Up, two songs just made for huge crowds to sing along with. Wake Up kills me every time.

“I GUESS WE’LL JUST HAVE TO ADJUUUUUUUUUUSSTTT!!!”

As the final notes faded away and the band left the stage in smiles and sweat, I was really impressed. I never thought they’d ever get this big. Even more unlikely, they’re still making great music. While I still have to make peace with the fact that the Arcade Fire are beyond clubs and theatres now, you can’t begrudge them their incredible success at the moment. They’re intelligent, political, and write heart-pounding music that reflects this. And now thousands of people are being exposed to their live show every night. It also just so happens that their huge, orchestral music fills big rooms brilliantly. I guess they were always going to end up on big stages. But who knew they’d be so damn good at it?

Setlist
Ready To Start
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
No Cars Go
Haiti
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Modern Man
Rococo
The Suburbs
The Suburbs (continued)
Suburban War
Intervention
We Used To Wait
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Rebellion (Lies)
Month Of May
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
——–
Keep The Car Running
Wake Up

Photos here.

Calexico opened the show and were pretty great! I’ve been aware of the band for years now but I’ve never really explored their stuff but last night convinced me I need to rectify that. They even covered Love Will Tear Us Apart which is, as I noted on Twitter, one of the rules for winning over big rooms when you’re the support act.

I really, really don’t know what to make of the new Underworld record, Barking. I’ve often said here that I like my electronic music dark…or close to it. Underworld are capable of this: Second Toughest In The Infants, Dubnobasswithmyheadman, Beaucoup Fish…all are amazing records that I still listen to a lot.

But Barking…wow. It’s a club-ready, verse/chorus/verse, bright, shiny, electro-pop record (for the most part). It’s a record I didn’t think Underworld were capable of making at this point in their careers (and for that fact alone I suppose they deserve credit) and one that’s kind of baffling me. I’m listening to it a lot but I don’t think I love it? I really don’t know.

The opener Bird 1 is fantastic (but better in its earlier live incarnation as Strumpet) and there are some other pretty great moments. But…but….it’s not a record I want on in my headphones late at night, which is something I love about Underworld albums. It just seems so out of place in the Underworld catalogue. Even the video for Always Loved A Film has a total Spike Jonze/90s feel to it.

Ever since Godspeed announced their return to live performance earlier this year I have been waiting/hoping for a show to be announced in Vancouver. Thankfully, this week GY!BE announced a North American tour for early next year which sees the band hitting theatres all over the place. The essential details for Vancouverites:

GY!BE @ Vogue Theatre – February 16, 2011

It seems as though Sealed With A Kiss will be presenting the show but there’s no word there or on the Vogue’s website on ticket details at this point. Tickets for some shows in the States have already gone on sale through (*gasp*) Ticketmaster and TicketWeb.

Download
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Moya (live 2001)

TICKET UPDATE
According to SWAK, tickets are on sale this Saturday, September 25 through the Vogue box office (no mention of it being online), Red Cat, and Zulu. The floor tickets will be GA with reserved seating in the balcony and tickets will set you back $25 plus fees.

Somewhat related…in that he lives in Vancouver and is a Godspeed fan, Quinn is back to blogging over at From Blown Speakers. It’s great to have him back.

On Friday night, The National played the second show of a two-night stand here in Vancouver. The gig was completely sold out (it was actually the first show announced) and the crowd was rewarded for their enthusiasm by the rain clouds which never really opened up over the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park.

It was only my second time seeing The National live…which I find somewhat surprising. It just seems like I’ve seen them quite a bit more for some reason. Anyway, the gig itself was fantastic. The National were accompanied by co-conspirator Padma Newsome on keyboards/violin/other things as well as two horn players which helped flesh out a lot of the orchestral arrangements the band are so fond of.

Relentless touring over the past four years has turned The National into an incredibly tight, focused live band. Brothers Dessner’s guitars played so effectively off one another while the rhythm section is incredibly propulsive on songs like Squalor Victoria and Abel.

The set drew almost exclusively from the last three records (we weren’t treated to Available like the crowd at Thursday’s show was) which probably suited 95% of the audience just fine. Personally, Alligator’s songs were among the show’s highlights. All The Wine features some of my favourite lyrics Matt Berninger has written and I just love hearing that one live. Meanwhile, Abel and Mr. November were the two most explosive moments in what was, at times, a subdued evening.

Many of Boxer’s finest pieces were also performed much to the enjoyment of the crowd. Squalor Victoria was particularly aggressive while Fake Empire, which closed the main set, capped the evening off beautifully. Obviously, however, it was High Violet’s evening with the band playing the bulk of their latest record throughout the set. Quick admonishment to the band for not playing Lemonworld. LOVE THAT SONG. Perhaps it’s all those backing vocals which makes it tough to nail live? I did notice that in songs like Conversation 16 (another favourite off HV) the lack of all those swooping vocals left the song a little lifeless compared to its studio counterpart.

In other instances, however, I much preferred the live takes. England, for instance, is not one of my favourites off High Violet but the band played it with such muscle on Friday that I’ve grown to appreciate that song a lot more. One song that works perfectly both on record and live is Terrible Love. Immediately following the monumental Mr. November in the encore, Terrible Love seems to have already become a bit of an “indie” classic. It’s restrained opening builds the tension and when the band push through the wall the song just takes off into another dimension.

When the final notes of Terrible Love began to dissipate into the cool night I thought the gig was over but the band surprised me by ending the night with Cherry Tree’s mini-epic, About Today. The band stretched the song out into a lengthy goodbye and it was a perfect end to a really memorable night in Stanely Park. Hopefully the band can hurry back and play a venue without a ridiculous early curfew.

Setlist
Anyone’s Ghost
Mistaken For Strangers
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Secret Meeting
Slow Show
Squalor Victoria
Afraid Of Everyone
All The Wine
Conversation 16
Apartment Story
Sorrow
Abel
England
Fake Empire
———
Runaway
Mr. November
Terrible Love
About Today

A few photos from the gig are up here.

Download
The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio

The Walkmen opened the show. Despite never having the desire to actually attend a gig by The Walkmen it was at least my third time seeing the band and, once again, I was left unimpressed for the most part. They have a few songs I really love (two of which they played: We’ve Been Had and The Rat) but for the most part I was pretty bored through their set. Better bands have come along that mine the same emotional territory The Walkmen trade in…but do it much better. Bands like the one they were supporting.

If Japandroids keep making them, I’m going to keep posting them.

Download
Japandroids – Heavenward Grand Prix

That’s the A-side from the forthcoming 7″ which features a cover of PJ Harvey’s Shame as the B-side. Love the fact they’re covering PJ Harvey but I must admit the song choice is a bit surprising. Preorder it now over at Polyvinyl.

Last night in Vancouver I saw the Pavement show I’d never thought I’d see. Was it spectacular? No. But it was totally enjoyable from start to finish. And it’s the kind of show where the review might as well just be the setlist because the band did a great job of covering their entire career but giving focus to the records that, let’s be honest, we wanted to hear tons from (looking at you, Slanted & Enchanted).

Setlist
Silence Kit
Perfume-V
Rattled By The Rush
Shady Lane
Frontwards
In The Mouth Of A Desert
Father To A Sister Of Thought
Cut Your Hair
Kennel District
Unfair
Grounded
Loretta’s Scars
Starlings Of The Slipstream
Stereo
Stop Breathin’
Old To Begin
Date With IKEA
Conduit For Sale!
Spit On A Stranger
Trigger Cut
No Life Singed Her
Zurich Is Stained
Lions (Linden)
Fight This Generation
———
Gold Soundz
Range Life
Here

It’s unfair (!) to poke holes in such an impressive setlist but We Dance and Summer Babe would have added to the evening nicely. As for the band, Malkmus was his quirky self, Bob Nastanovich was crazy, and Scott Kannberg played/sang Kennel District. The particularly boisterous crowd was a predictable mix of actual old-school hardcore Pavement fans from ’92, every sceney hipster in Vancouver, and the intrigued people in between. For the dedicated it was a memorable evening a long time in the making, but if you were new to the band or just kind of interested in seeing what all the fuss was about I could see you leaving last night’s show baffled by the band’s legendary status. But it’s their quiet oddness and understated greatness that makes them unique and they delivered all that in spades last night at the QE.

Photos from the gig here.

We got their a bit late and only caught about half of Quasi’s opening set. They seemed to be a pretty spot on choice as openers for Pavement and while I wasn’t enthralled with their stuff it’s always great to see Janet Weiss on the drums (even for someone who’s not a fan of Sleater-Kinney).