ARCADE FIRE- BBC Maida Vale Studios (19/06/07)

So, last Tuesday I sauntered down the BBC Studio’s at Maida Vale to see a little-known Canadian outfit known as “The Arcade Fire” (some guy on UKK offered me a ticket, how could I refuse?) The studio itself was a tiny place, about the same size as the Water Rats (100-150 capacity); if you ignored all the camera equipment, it was essentially a jumped-up primary school assembly hall. Naturally, we were all as excitable as giddy schoolgirls so it was lucky we didn’t have to wait that long about before things got under way. Stuart Maconie and Mark Radcliffe came on stage to briefly introduce the show, before welcoming the band on stage. Some brief observations:

i) Regine has a new dress, a lot like the black one she wore during the last tour but reddish-pink; my friend Alex said it looked a bit A-level textiles but I thought it was rather cool.
ii) I never noticed how short Sarah was, she looks tiny next to Marika.
iii) I felt really sorry for the poor horn blokes, standing forlornly at the back. They really are the lepers of the band.

Anyway, like the Brixton shows, they opened up with Keep The Car Running- a fine way to kick off proceedings, although the mandolin was a bit too low in the mix for my liking. The thing that immediately struck me was the peculiar lack of atmosphere- perhaps it’s inevitable when the majority of the audience comprises of jaded industry types but sometimes it felt like the band’s electrifying energy was dissipating into a void. It certainly wasn’t completely dead (it wasn’t just us UKKers clapping along, and the applause after each song was enthusiastic) but it’s just not the same without a bunch of rabid fanboys and girls singing their hearts out whilst bouncing about like Zebedee on crack. On the plus side, it was nice to be able to actually appreciate the music for once without any distractions; you could devote your whole attention to the band without having to think, “why, I wish that tall fellow would stop punching me in the back.”
No Cars Go was as sublime as ever; even in the rather sterile environment of the Radio 2 studio it lost little of its awesome power. It wasn’t quite the same silently mouthing “Let’s Go!” than screaming it at the top of my lungs, but dammit, I still loved every moment. But it was Haiti that was the definite highlight of yesterday’s set; Arcade Fire at their exhilarating, untouchable best. The whole band put their all into their performance- Regine doing her cute little dance-thing, Sarah and Marika bouncing in time to the drums, Richard annihilating his cymbal, Will completely freaking out- utterly brilliant! Win then teased us by playing the opening bars of ‘Guns of Brixton’ on his keyboard, before launching into a monumental rendition of My Body Is A Cage. The more I hear this song live, the more I fall in love with it- it’s less bombastic than the recorded version, replacing the sheer viscerality of the pipe organ with a more complex, rewarding arrangement. Win’s voice sounds so much better after the surgery; it’s one of the strongest vocal performances I’ve seen him do and the rest of the band singing the organ countermelody towards the end remains one of my favourite AF live moments.
Next on the list- Black Mirror, which was a bit muggy sound-wise but they pulled things together by “un, deux, trois, dir miroir noir!” which I was thankful about. I tried to instigate a “Tim Chant” at this point, but was swiftly elbowed into submission by my friend who somehow felt that this would be embarrassing.:p We then got Neon Bible, the one song that really benefited from the subdued environment; its pleasant, low-key charm prevents it from ever being a stadium/festival anthem but in a venue like that it was perfect. Nice little coda too; perhaps they could have done more with it but I liked it. Intervention and (Antichrist Television Blues) were both great; the latter particularly welcome as it’s not a song I’ve heard them play very often.
After (ATB) the guys recording the show ran out of tape, so whilst they were hastily preparing a new one, Win gave us a mini-lecture describing the crazily old-fashioned technology known as “radios”- (complete with honky-tonk ragtime accompaniment courtesy of Regine) before launching into the glorious double whammy of Power Out and Rebellion. Yet again though, it was slightly disconcerting watching these songs in such a restrained, thoroughly polite manner- if they had invited 50 UKKer’s along instead of filling it with media folk it would have been quite probably the best thing EVER.
And that was that. Lights up, no encore- bit of a shame, but it really, REALLY would have been churlish to complain. Especially as we came across a group of competition winners who travelled all the way from Scotland, who had inexplicably been told the show started at 7.30 and therefore missed the whole thing.  But hey, it was an amazing experience to see one’s favourite band in such intimate settings and even though the atmosphere wasn’t as electric as I may have hoped it was still one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments that will remain a highlight of my gig-going career.