Arcade Fire. Formal wear or costumes only please.

[iron yuppie]

Okay cool. I've got them tomorrow in Chicago.

 

[corianderstem]

We had Phantogram in Seattle, which was cool.

 

[kabigon]

For the Reflektor tour, we had Diplo and it felt like absolutely nobody paid any attention during the entire set.

 

[iron yuppie]

This band is still an absolute monster live. That run to end the main set was epic.

 

[trevgreg]

Anyone who has seen this tour: is there an opener or not?

The Breeders opened in St. Paul. A bit rough maybe due to it being their first show and having a crowded stage set-up, but I enjoyed them for what it was worth. Pretty cool seeing Kim Deal live finally as well!

Really enjoyed AF's set this time around too. A bit surprised that they're still playing arenas considering the attendance this go-around, but they still put up a great show.

 

[HeartlandGirl]

Stopping by the forum tonight because I heard Creature Comfort on SiriusXM and needed to know what everyone was saying about the current Arcade Fire sound.

I haven't listened to the record (I kind of gave up on AF awhile ago), but Creature Comfort is so...ugh. The lyrics are terrible, and Regine's vocals are grating. Those are my thoughts, anyway.

 

[gump]

so...ugh.

This has been pretty much the forum's reaction to the album.

 

[lazarus]

Arcade Fire Reportedly Playing To Half-Empty Arenas On Current Tour


lol

 

[Kieran McConville]

omg, it's their POP tour. These guys blew right through their Achtung Baby/Zooropa phase with shit to show for it, and now it's crunch time.

Get ready for a stripped down back to basics mea culpa in three years time. I mean in six or seven years time.

 

[LemonMelon]

Yeah, they've been ripping off Popmart this entire era. It's only fitting that the tour flopped like the album.

Pop is infinitely superior to Everything Now though, in every way imaginable.

 

[trevgreg]

Stopping by the forum tonight because I heard Creature Comfort on SiriusXM and needed to know what everyone was saying about the current Arcade Fire sound.

I haven't listened to the record (I kind of gave up on AF awhile ago), but Creature Comfort is so...ugh. The lyrics are terrible, and Regine's vocals are grating. Those are my thoughts, anyway.

Put Your Money on Me is a pretty great addition to the canon. I don't mind a few of the other songs either (the title track, Signs of Life, Electric Blue). Otherwise, yeah, it was probably a step or three below stuff like Reflektor and such.

Arcade Fire Reportedly Playing To Half-Empty Arenas On Current Tour


lol

Yeah, this seems to be hitting the press now. Seeing them play to 5000 people in an 18,000 capacity arena drove that point home for me a bit anyway. They played to about twice that amount in another area arena just a few years ago, which made me wonder why they didn't play expectations a bit lower for this tour.

Some cities appeared to sell okay though.

 

[ChurchBay]

Yeah, they've been ripping off Popmart this entire era. It's only fitting that the tour flopped like the album.

Pop is infinitely superior to Everything Now though, in every way imaginable.

For sure. Pop and Popmart is better in every respect. Safe to assume that U2 did 'irony' better than Arcade Fire. As great a driving force Win Butler has been in Arcade Fire's greatness in years prior, he certainly doesn't command the stage, vocal or charismatic presence that Bono had in abundance so that's a big reason why the whole irony thing comes off so poorly. U2's dynamic on stage is so powerful that they can pull off a show's theme no matter how ambitious it is as they've proved numerous times over the decades. AF are a terrific band live - saw them once at Edinburgh Castle and their wasn't a dud spot - the strength of those songs (certainly up to The Suburbs) was faultless. Almost Smiths like in it's perfect hit rate were those first 3 albums...almost. But the good thing about that show was that they weren't trying to be too 'clever'.

Was very surprised by the reaction Arcade Fire's new album came in for. Predictably there will always be reviewers out there who think everything they do is brilliant but the bad reviews for this album were seriously BAD. It's not great given their own brilliant standards but it's not hateful in the way many reviews portrayed it as.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I don't understand. I find the album a fantastic addition to a fantastic resume. Total change up in style, but evolutionary and appreciable.

 

[kabigon]

I like Everything Now and We Don't Deserve Love, but the rest is a bit forgettable.

 

[LemonMelon]

I think if you locked anyone from Interference in a room with a pen and pad of paper for a day, they would come up with better lyrics than Win did for this album, just by not being so cringy and pretentious.

 

[gump]

Their MSG show was sold out, I believe, but they sold out Barclays three times in the last tour. So yeah.

The new album has basically no redeeming qualities, and gets worse upon each listen. Embarrassing.

 

[iron yuppie]

United Center was about 3/4 full when I saw them - a pretty good haul.

I'm not as down on the new one as everyone else. The middle lags badly, but it is bookended nicely.

 

[Pop Artist]

I like the new album even though a couple of songs are definitely problematic (Chemistry, I'm looking at you), but they didn't play those on this tour anyway. And the live shows are still fantastic, went to both Toronto shows this weekend, and they are still killing it. Toronto 1 was sold out, but they did have to drape the upper level for Toronto 2. I hope they weather the storm they've been through lately and come out of it stronger than ever.

And, btw, while one has to get there three days before to be 4th in queue for U2, I only spent three hours in queue for Arcade Fire to be 4th in line, lol. Was pretty much the same last AF tour too, proving that U2 fans are insane.

 

[phanan]

I'm not as down on the new one as everyone else. The middle lags badly, but it is bookended nicely.

Yep.

 

[corianderstem]

And my axe.

 

[cobl04]

It's absolutely atrocious in my view. I won't listen to it again. Put Your Money on Me is a banger and We Don't Deserve Love is also great, but if they swing through here I doubt I'll be putting up the money to see them.

 

[Joey788]

I might’ve said it before, but this record would be a great EP.

Everything Now

Creature Comfort (lyrics suck but I like the music)

Electric Blue

Put Your Money On Me

We Don’t Deserve Love

Everything Now (continued)

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Infinite Content and Good God Damn are the only bad tracks, and only really Infinite Content do I think "skip."

Electric Blue is fantastic. Curious why that track isn't getting any love.

 

[Pop Artist]

New songs they do play live:

Everything Now
Signs of Life
Creature Comfort
Infinite Content (fast version only)
Electric Blue
Put Your Money on Me
We Don't Deserve Love
Everything Now (cont'd)

New songs they didn't play live this tour:
Chemistry
Peter Pan
Infinite Content (country version)
Good God Damn

 

[gump]

I hope they weather the storm they've been through lately and come out of it stronger than ever.

They will record a back-to-basics album that gets rid of all electronic flourishes, and go on a smaller scale tour that focuses on the music and brings them closer to their audience.

 

[Kieran McConville]

They will make ATYCLB Pt II (Sprawl Beyond Sprawl)

 

[kabigon]

Sprawl I (Flatyclbland)

 

[Kieran McConville]

Sprawl Pt IV: This Time It's Personal

 

[kabigon]

Electric Bluegaloo

 

[U2inUtah]

They were on SNL last night

One of the better songs on the album but this was kind of an odd performance: