Arcade Fire + Calexico at the Greek Theater
For awhile, I went to concerts all the time– at least weekly I saw some band somewhere. I don’t go nearly that often anymore, but I promised myself I’d see the Arcade Fire when they next came to town. Too often in the past a band I adored would come through town and I’d not bother to see them, telling myself, “I’ll see them next time they tour.” Unfortunately, too many of my favorite bands have either disbanded or stopped touring, and I now regret missing the chance to see them perform.
The Arcade Fire are pretty much my favorite active band, so yesterday I showed up at Berkeley’s Greek Theater without a ticket and planted myself on queue. Many times in the past I’ve had spare tickets to a show, and turned down large amounts of cash from scalpers to instead sell them at face value to regular folks. I once sold two tickets to see Hot Chip for $35 each, right in front of a scalper offering me $80 per ticket. It seemed the right thing to do, and yesterday that good will came back my way, for I had not been in line but ten minutes when a girl lined up a few spots behind me and indicated that she had a ticket to sell. She sold it to me for the face value of $46. Had I bought one online when they went on sale I’d have paid $60 due to the additional service fees, so I really made out well.
While waiting the 90 minutes for the gates to open, I befriended a few people in line near me. We played hearts to pass the time. Meanwhile, I tried to get in touch with my friend Mike, whom I knew was going to be at the show, but he was incommunicado; I think he was drunk in San Francisco at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, and barely made it out to Berkeley in time for the show; but I had made new friends, so I watched with them.
I found a great spot, dead center, about 10 people back from the stage. Calexico came on and were great– I like them enough that I’d have paid to see them by themselves, so it was an unexpected bonus to find that they were the support act. It was like the time I showed up to see Belle & Sebastian and unbeknownst to me New Pornographers were the support act. Two great bands for the price of one!
Somethin’ filled up
My heart with nothin’,
Someone told me not to cry.
Arcade Fire put on an outstanding show. They enjoyed what they were doing and it showed. By this point into their career they have four albums to draw from for material, and they pulled the greatest bits from each of them. They pieced together a set that built to a crescendo, and at times I felt as if I were at an opera rather than a rock concert. When they played “Ocean of Noise” I could feel something welling up inside me, which only built when the Calexico trumpeters joined them on stage for the songs finale. When they followed it up with “Tunnels,” my personal favorite song of theirs, I will not lie– a tear or two rolled down my cheek. Something about hearing that song brought me back to 2005, and losing Mom, and losing Sue, and what pretty much amounted to the beginning of the end of my life as I knew it then.
And since there’s no one else around,
We let our hair grow long
And forget all we used to know.
Then our skin gets thicker
From living out in the snow.
Later, as the band blended seamlessly from “Power’s Out” into “Rebellion (Lies),” I think I was the first person in the pit to recognize what song was coming on. Leave it to a DJ to identify what song is showing up next in a mix. Soon enough everyone else caught on and the entire crowd lost it.
I left the Greek in a state of hyper-aware elation, feeling spiritually moved in a way I’d expected and hoped church experiences would affect me in my younger, god-fearing, days, though they invariably failed to do so. There’s a deep sense of the real in the message of the Arcade Fire’s lyrics, and coupled with their epic and catchy music, I don’t think anyone walked out of last night’s show unmoved.
To sum it all up in layman’s terms, I had about as much fun at a concert as I have had in recent memory; I almost want to go see their encore performance tonight at the Greek.
Lastly, for are curious, here to the best of my memory is the setlist for the show:
Ready to Start
Month of May
Keep the Car Running
Laika
No Cars Go
Haiti
Sprawl II
Modern Man
Rococo
The Suburbs
Ocean of Noise
Tunnels
We Used to Wait
Powers Out
Rebellion (Lies)
-encore-
Intervention
Wake Up
Journal, Music
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Concert, Indie Rock, Melancholy, Music
Arcade Fire last week in Roy Wilkins felt like both the beginning of the end and an end to the beginning as if everything convalesced into a singular moment of life.
How odd that we are so connected by their music, a week apart, half a continent away.
They should have played My Body is a Cage to close for your concert; They did in Minneapolis and I was overwhelmed with utter sadness and beauty.
A Neon Bible Study
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07030103.htm
Arcade Fire:
Sermon by John Van Sloten (New Hope Church, Calgary, Alberta)
http://www.newhopechurch.ca/page.php?pgid=search&id=searchbrowse&movieid=696
Jesus at The Arcade Fire concert
http://www.newhopechurch.ca/jvsblog/2010/09/27/jesus-at-the-arcade-fire-concert/
Hi, I don’t know who you are, and especially how I dropped in your site. You’re nice, you listen to good music and write witty things. As well as me. But I am Italian, and I write in Italian.
I’m reading all your posts.
One of my favourite songs from Pulp is This is hardcore, I prefer that one to Common people. That’s the best video ever.
Bye Bye
Jane
@Jane Suskind, Well! Thank you very much. You are too kind. I tried to follow the link to your page, but it goes to the default WordPress page. It also warned me of phishing, but I double-checked and you are legit. Where is your Italian blog? I can probably read some of it…
I think that the video to “This is Hardcore” is among the best videos of all time, but I am also partial to “Common People.” The latter is one of my favorite songs to dance to.
@Peasprout,
Hi! My blog is janesuskind.wordpress.com.
I have to organise it, for ex I don’t know why categories have disappeared… ;)Any suggests?
Also, I will change the
adress in Banane touring club.
You can find both fiction and non fiction, but I’m not sure you can understand it.
Why do you quote Dante’s Inferno?
@Jane Suskind, Ah, okay! I see the problem. You had an extra dot in there, and an “at” where a “dot” ought to have been. I fixed it. Now people can jump to your site and see lots of Italian writing.
I think I will address the Dante quote in my next blog.