Chasing The Arcade Fire

(buy The Suburbs)

At midnight on Thursday I walked out of Madison Square Garden with my fingers punching a message to a friend who was driving to see them play outside of Baltimore in less than 24 hours. I had to go again. I was in disbelief for most of the 90 minutes that Arcade Fire played the sprawling basketball arena that I expected to hate. Not even fifteen feet from the stage, the rapture was palpable like the sweat on our arms. The two instant favorites from The Suburbs, "Used to Wait" and "Sprawl II" were awesome live. Win walked the hand railing like a balance beam into the crowd for the former, and when they screwed up "Sprawl II" in the middle of the encore Win said they'd start it again, and then walked down from the piano to kiss Regine before her first verse. Before the encore the arena echoed with the chorus of "Wake Up."

Not even 12 hours later I hitched a ride with three friends from the most urban arena to the suburban hills of Merriweather Post Pavilion. My friend was opportunistic enough to snatch a pair of pit tickets being sold at the gate for half their price (thank you desperate fan). Spoon covered Wolf Parade's "Modern World" and we finally got to hear Arcade Fire's "Modern Man." Spoon was great both nights; "I Turn My Camera On" was my highlight, and Britt Daniel played "I Summon You" on electric one night and acoustic the other. The Arcade Fire's set was different enough to feel new again, including a block of four Suburbs songs in a row. Girls took off their shirts and threw their bras but the night was punctuated by Win crowdsurfing into us before returning to stage so that "Wake Up"'s beat could drop.

(all photos from Merriweather Post Pavilion, more below)

























set list courtesy of @BQNguyen