It was a whole body of work and something to definitely stay engaged with. Firstly, they didn't keep anyone waiting. They showed up on stage (or shall I say side stage?) at about 8:50 when Win, Regine, Owen, and the mirror man played a haunting version of "My Body Is A Cage" on an elevated stage among the crowd.
Thrusting right into "Reflecktor," the band was playing in a interesting space I thought. I believed they wanted to start their tour in Louisville because it could be a good tune up and testing ground for what they want to do. Louisville is no NYC. The KFC Yum! Center had the top level of the arena curtained off. But they were a raucous crowd there tonight and Arcade Fire could test the success of a second stage and a fake The Reflecktors acts to start the encore.
They were able to take the show they played years ago when they were playing to 2000 people and transform that into a great show tonight. If it meant lowering the lights they did that. But they did a bunch of stuff: shooting confetti during the climax of "Here Come The Night Time," calling for the house lights on during "Wake Up," using stage 2 for multiple songs including "It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus." They will absolutely rip a festival to shreds but in this arena, in their own shows, they had to find a way to pull off their bigger sound. They did it.
Speaking of sound, these guys blast you in the face like Phil Spector. And the mastery of instrumentation is incomprehensible. The drummer leaves to play guitar. The guitarist plays the drums and piano. Regine plays anything from drums to accordion and hurdy gurdy. Horns section. Haitian percussionists. There is so much there and it shone through especially in songs like "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" and "Haiti."
And abnormal for Arcade Fire, they pulled out a cover of The Rolling Stones's "The Last Time" during an energetic five song encore.
For me, it took a bit to get adjusted to their show. It was actually the concert that I have been to at the KFC Yum! Center with the least people in attendance. (I've seen anyone from Zac Brown Band to MMJ and Miranda Lambert. Remember folks, this is Kentucky). I don't think they hit their stride until the third song. This show was not my favorite of all time or anything. These are songs I wanted to hear live and so glad I did. I was amazed at what I saw tonight.
More observations:
- Win is a big dude
- Regine is really dramatic
- Tim should enter into a Thom Yorke look a like contest
- The dress code suggestion brought a lot of diversity to what people wore. I saw everything from bros with jeans, Ghostbusters, overalls, mini skirts, prom dresses, and tuxedos.
- They played a cover song tonight, but in saying that, The Rolling Stones is not who I would expect for them to cover
- The tour will get better. They are working out the kinks.
- They played for 1 hour and 43 minutes.
- 7 songs from Reflektor, 3 from The Suburbs, 3 from Neon Bible, 5 from Funeral, 1 cover
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