Monday, December 20, 2010

ARCADE FIRE (London O2 Arena, 01/12/12)



Well, I wasn’t entirely convinced Arcade Fire would be able to hack the arena circuit, but happily my pessimism proved unfounded. True, I sorely miss the days where the band could spontaneously decide play outside churches, or when Win Butler would reckless throw himself into the audience during “Power Out”, but there’s no denying the anthemic qualities of their back catalogue translates fantastically into larger venues. True, a long string of slower numbers led to a mid-set lull (although no power on earth could compel me to criticise the airing of “Crown of Love”), but hearing the chorus of “Wake Up” resound around the O2 was something truly special.

(Photo: John Gleeson (Flickr))

2 comments:

mikehughesphoto said...

Saw them in Manchester - and pretty much agree with you. Luckily we got front row, so it felt more intimate than last time I saw them, which was a 14,000 seater and we were in something like seat 998 in row Z ha!
I enjoy your blog, cheers

Citizen Meh said...

Thanks for the comment, much appreciated! :-) Heard rumours AF will be playing some smaller venues next year, fingers crossed that actually happens...