Arcade Fire Close Montreal Homestand With Joyous Chaos

Just how rabid was anticipation for any one of Arcade Fire's five hometown shows at the Ukrainian Federation? Here's the craziest story I heard, from the three girls who were first in line on Saturday night. One of the downtown record stores was selling 50 day-of tickets to each show. These girls started waiting outside the store in -20 Celsius weather at 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning. They got their tickets at 10 a.m., when the store opened.

Then, just to ensure that they were the most dedicated fans on the planet, they got to the hall at 1:30 p.m. to wait another six hours outside before the doors opened. By my count, they were basically running on maybe 2.5 hours of sleep and had been outside for roughly 17 hours. Yes, it was that kind of week in Montreal.

The Ukrainian Federation building didn't, from the outset, inspire the hope that this would be a memorable show. The concert hall was a cross between a high school cafeteria and a '50s movie house. The wood and leather seats were nearly all on the verge of collapse, though nobody in the room would use them when Arcade Fire hit the stage. When the band finally did stroll on just over an hour after the doors were mercifully opened, the crowd was still just getting warmed up. That said, the adulation meter was still on "high."

The first half of the group's set focused entirely on the new album, Neon Bible. "My Body Is A Cage" was a bit of an odd choice for an opener, given that it closes the new record. But it's also one of the record's most incendiary tracks, and it was a more than apt way to kick off the night. "Black Mirror" ranked as the only disappointment of the night. While the track is a swirling, crisp masterstroke on Neon Bible, over-instrumentation and early sound troubles helped dull its impact on stage. The record's two Springsteen-esque rockers, "Keep The Car Running" and "Antichrist Television Blues," were played back to back. The latter lived up to its live potential, while the former far exceeded the recorded version. While the album edition of "ATB" is repetitive and, ultimately, the weak link on Neon Bible, live, Win Butler gets increasingly intense until he abruptly stops like a diffused bomb at the end.

While everyone was excited to see the band and hear the new songs, the room didn't really start moving until the first Funeral cut, "Haiti." Regine Chassagne's chirpy lead vocals literally moved the flimsy Ukrainian Federation floor. During the one-two punch of "Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)" and "Rebellion (Lies)," the fact that the audience near the stage didn't end up in a pile of rubble in the basement was beyond me. The Funeral tracks were also mass singalongs. The melodic refrain from "Haiti" was sung repeatedly by those in attendance even after the band stopped playing it.After an encore of "Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)," the band trekked off with a pile of acoustic instruments. The audience stood around clapping for about 10 minutes before a guy onstage handed out set lists and told everyone the group had gone to the basement to perform. It was too rammed downstairs to even get into the hallway leading in that direction, so I missed a performance of "The Well And The Lighthouse."

That was rectified when Butler suddenly showed up at the back of the main room upstairs and led the audience in the now requisite acoustic singalong of "Wake Up." The rest of the band successfully maneuvered the crowd halfway through, and led the night to a positively glorious, if completely chaotic, conclusion. All things considered, it was one of the best performances I've seen the band do, and I've seen my share.

It's interesting seeing a band whose fame is spiralling upward faster than they can control it trying to maintain the club ethos. Arcade Fire are getting a little too big for these antics now, so it was pretty special for anyone in the building on any of the five nights to get to see them playing the outrageously hyped indie band for one last week. Next time around, it's going to be a lot bigger. The group have announced May 12-13 gigs at Arena Maurice Richard in Montreal and May 15-16 shows at Massey Hall in Toronto.

Here's the set list from Saturday night's show:
"My Body Is A Cage"
"Black Mirror"
"Keep The Car Running"
"Antichrist Television Blues"
"No Cars Go"
"Haiti"
"Black Wave/Bad Vibration"
"Windowsill"
"Ocean Of Noise"
"Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)"
"Rebellion (Lies)"
"Intervention"
"Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)"
"The Well And The Lighthouse" (acoustic)
"Wake Up" (acoustic)