As the Sydney Entertainment Centre sees its name officially change to the Qantas Credit Union Arena (doesn’t really have the same ring to it, does it?), the venue welcomes one of this year’s Big Day Out headliners into the fairly esteemed company of bands who have played the venue. It marks the first time the band has played venues of this size in Australia and it also sees the venue show off a band at the top of their game, rather than a heritage act celebrating songs from decades ago. A rare treat in itself!
Such is the wonder of Arcade Fire. A band – nay, an anomaly – who are doing everything their way and being celebrated with mass appeal. Their music is indie enough to whet the appetite of even the most conservative music listener, while epic enough to fill arenas around the world. The latter fact wouldn’t have been something you might have thought until you saw them live in such a venue. But indeed, here we have it.
In support, Diplo got the crowd moving early with a heavy electronic set that was accompanied by an impressive (and mighty colourful) light show. Though enjoyable for many, it was hardly the sort of music that the average Arcade Fire fan would listen to. Still, he got plenty of people moving and dutifully amped up the crowd in advance of the main attraction. He also returned after Arcade Fire’s set to keep the crowd dancing, which is something I haven’t seen happen at the venue before – but was welcomed by many, as was his song selection, which was deemed far more appropriate the second time around.
But I digress, we’re not here to talk about a DJ, who’s in town for Big Day Out as part of Major Lazer, but rather Montreal’s finest modern export, Arcade Fire. The set began, surprisingly, in the crowd, with Win Butler, Régine Chassagne and a third member (whose identity I couldn’t quite make out) kicking things off banging drums and performing a distorted, brief version of “My Body is a Cage”, while Win surprised unsuspecting punters and even posed for a selfie or two.
It wasn’t long before the band was back onto the stage, however, to launch into the opener and namesake of their latest record, Reflektor, but it was an act that served well to make things feel a bit more intimate than they actually were. It wouldn’t be the only time Win would venture into the crowd. He later headed back to the sound desk as the band launched into a surprising – and one would imagine Australian-tour-only – cover of INXS’ “Devil Inside”, as a masked doppelganger fooled the crowd into thinking Win remained on the stage. As the opening notes of “Here Comes The Night Time” from their latest record followed, Win darted back to the stage and heralded the arrival of confetti which flew through the entire arena. They already have the songs, but boy do they know how to put on an amazing show…
With “Night Time” closing out the main set, “Ready To Start” and “Wake Up” closed out the night in spectacular fashion. These are epic tracks which work incredibly well in the venue. Though, one does get a bit teary eyed when thinking back to their Enmore Theatre shows the last time they were in town.
Other highlights of the set included the glorious cowbell in “Reflektor”, “Power Out” with the infusion of African Drums, Win on the keys for the stunning “The Suburbs” – helping make up for the fact they never toured that record down here – ahead of Régine’s glorious “Sprawl II”, which we named as the best song of 2010 here on the AU. There’s something really special about the songs that Régine sings on. There’s an added energy that comes into play, and it makes this and “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus)” stand outs from the night.
And though the new stuff plays out incredibly well in this environment (“Normal Person” took me by surprise in this fashion), one can’t ignore that even a classic track like “No Cars Go” works as well. The song happens to be the oldest in their repertoire, having originally appeared on their debut EP, before they took it up a notch on the Nick Launay produced Neon Bible. There’s a reason they’ve stuck with it for so long… much like the band themselves, running from instrument to instrument and holding the crowd in the palm of their hands: it’s just that good.
Though the set wasn’t all that different from what we’ve seen at the Big Day Out – only the cover, the brief moment of “Body is a Cage”, “Flashbulb Eyes” (the first time the track has been played in Australia) and “Ocean of Noise” separated the set from what we saw in Sydney or Melbourne – tonight was the set for the fans all the same. It brought the ten thousand plus strong crowd together in unison to scream at “Wake Up”, dance in the confetti to “Here Comes the Night Time” (a highlight of every show on this tour) and celebrate the rare joy it is to see this band in Australia.
Here’s hoping they don’t leave it six years and two albums between visits next time… but in the meantime, this will be one superb show for the memory banks.
SETLIST:
My Body is a Cage (Snippet)
Reflektor
Flashbulb Eyes
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Joan of Arc
The Suburbs
The Suburbs (Continued)
Ocean of Noise
It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus)
Afterlife
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
No Cars Go
Keep the Car Running
Normal Person
Rebellion (Lies)
Devil Inside (INXS Cover)
Here Comes the Night Time
Encore:
Ready to Start
Wake Up
