Winner and Still Champion: At the United Center, Arcade Fire Retains Its Title as the World’s Best Rock Band -- Chicago Concert Review

Concert Review

Arcade Fire
w/ opening act The Breeders
United Center, Chicago
October 30, 2017
@@@@@

With all the concerts I go to, plus dozens of theatrical performances, it could be easy--in theory--to regard Arcade Fire as just another show.

No big deal.

A random entry on a busy calendar.

And even in finding the Canadian ensemble outstanding once again—as I had in 2011 and 2014–coming among seeing such legends & heroes as Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Paul Weller, U2, Metallica, Midnight Oil, Radiohead, Green Day, Billy Corgan, the late great Tom Petty and more, Monday's Arcade Fire gig at the UC couldn't have been all that significant, right?

Wrong.

This concert not only rocked and delighted from beginning to end, it mattered.

This isn’t just because Arcade Fire has great depth to its music and lyrics, pulled from all five of its
good-to-great albums, imaginatively put together a truly scintillating audiovisual blast or even that—at a time when all too few artists dare to speak out—lead singer Win Butler yelled, “Fuck Trump!” disregarding any career risks even as the band fails to sell as many tickets as it should. (My friend Paolo & I got upgraded to the 200-level upon arrival as much of the 300-level was closed, and I’ve repeatedly read about weak ticket sales in other markets.)

The truth is, as I see it, that Arcade Fire is simply the best rock band in the world right now, and it was important for me to bear witness to their live power remaining as blistering as ever.

...at a time when there are far too few modern rock acts I know and care about, and amid a stretch when several of my musical heroes have passed on. 

Now before you start picking on my dubbing them the World's Best Band, and get all “But what about...?,” I, of course, give them that title with some caveats, though none diminish how good I think they are.

With the Rolling Stones having played several concerts (in Europe) over just the past few weeks, Arcade Fire can’t be considered the Greatest Rock Band That Still Exists.

I last saw the Stones in 2015, and still love them live, but they, like most venerated veteran acts--e.g. The Who--can’t match Arcade Fire’s recorded output over the past dozen years. 

This too is why somewhat younger yet already legendary bands still putting out decent new music—Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Green Day, etc.—and still delivering outstanding concerts come up short as “The Best Current Rock Band.”

It's worth noting that the nine performing members of Arcade Fire make them more an ensemble than a band such as U2, with just its 4 original members, but though I still love Bono, Edge & co., their recent material doesn't much thrill.

I’m also not counting Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as a band.

Or caring that Arcade Fire is a rock band whose sound of late is largely infused by dance.

For after beginning their show by walking—to a Michael Buffer-like introduction—into a boxing ring in the middle of the United Center, over the course of 2+ hours Arcade Fire retained their belt. 

And then some. 

Even with a much closer vantage point, the show didn’t seem quite as all-encompassing loud as at the same place in 2014, but from the opening “Everything Now”—the gleefully ABBAesque title track of the band’s new album—it was plenty thunderous. 

As the band, led by husband & wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, rampaged through "Signs of Life," "Rebellion (Lies)," "Here Comes the Night Time," and "No Cars Go," accompanied by dazzling lighting effects, the sonic force was so potent it almost felt dangerous.

As in if the pace kept up, something--my head, my heart, the roof, etc.--was bound to explode. 

So it was almost welcome—if not as viscerally thrilling—when a series of relatively slower songs ("Electric Blue," "Put Your Money on Me," "Neon Bible") quelled the pace a bit. 

But things were soon back to full-tilt, and though harder rocking tunes like "Ready to Start" and the set-closing "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" were inherently dynamic, the imaginative lighting displays--including those suggesting a boxing ring long after the real ropes had been removed from the stage--amped up everything else that was played.

So renditions of songs like "The Suburbs," the Chassagne-sung "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)," "Reflector" and the propulsive new "Creature Comfort" were also highlights on a night full of them, as part of what has been dubbed the Infinite Content tour.

I also appreciate that Arcade Fire mixes up their setlists a bit from city-to-city--see the Chicago setlist here--and was happy to hear "Intervention" and "We Used to Wait," which aren't constant staples.

Speaking of staples, I had just seen the legendary Mavis Staples open for Bob Dylan the previous Friday in Chicago--her hometown--and as she and Arcade Fire had collaborated on the single, "I Give You Power" earlier this year, I was hoping she was on hand to sing that song with them. But I'm guessing her tour commitments with the great Dylan precluded an appearance (and the song went unplayed).

But the closing "Wake Up" sent presumably everyone home to bed on a high note.

Everything phenomenal feels transcendentally so in the moment, but five days later--when I've found time to write a review after a busy week--this Arcade Fire show still feels like the best concert I've seen in 2017 (and there are 10 others I've given @@@@@).

For those who remain dubious--and probably weren't there--it has repeatedly been true that I have found Arcade Fire's power and prowess something you have to experience in person to truly appreciate.

Their live potency--which goes well beyond the songs to include the visuals, volume and even a bunch of cheeky graphics thematically mocking modern day materialism in the guise of the "Everything Now" brand--does not nearly translate on screen, even in concert videos.

The Breeders

So with tickets starting at just $25--and great seats remained at that price up through showtime--for, at the very least, one of the best bands in the world at the moment, it's a shame Arcade Fire came well short of filling the United Center.

Although rather sparse for a fine opening set--including the ever delectable "Cannonball"--from the Breeders (with Kim and Kelley Deal on hand; I wasn't sure if both sisters were still active), the crowd filled in enough to be far from embarrassing for the headliners.

But in 2014, Arcade Fire played two shows at the UC that if not quite sold out, were far closer to it.

Granted the band just headlined Lollapalooza here in early August, but articles about meager crowds elsewhere have seemed pretty common.

So as Arcade Fire is providing living proof that rock 'n roll--in the present tense, including both recording and touring--isn't yet dead, and actually still at times amazingly enthralling, it's a bit disheartening to note that nobody cares anymore.

Relatively speaking, of course.

Recognizing that the band's debut album, Funeral, garnered rave reviews upon its 2005 release and--though I liked it--I didn't get around to seeing the band until 2011, I fully understand being late to the party.

But if you're a rock 'n roll fan who grew up loving David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Talking Heads, U2, R.E.M., etc., and believe that the type of music you relish has passed you by as a live entertainment option from non-geezers, let me say this:

Literally a winner in the ring the other night, Arcade Fire proved they are still champion of what great rock 'n roll is all about.

With Unrelenting, Unrivaled Audiovisual Barrage, Arcade Fire Proves Themselves Singular -- Chicago Concert Review

Concert Review

Arcade Fire

w/ opening act Devo

plus DJ Dan Deacon

United Center, Chicago

August 26, 2014

@@@@@

Before going to the United Center on Tuesday night for Arcade Fire's first of two concerts there, I thought--having seen them twice before--that I might open this review by opining that they are the best band to arise in the 21st century.

Following the show, not only has that status been resoundingly reaffirmed, but I would even suggest that Arcade Fire has established itself as one of the best live acts in rock history.

Heady praise, I know. Perhaps hyperbolic. 

And if propagated by a post-show haze, so be it. (Though several hours have now passed.)

But, if anything, these acclamations may be more acute and constrictive than they need to be.

Even in loosely defining "arising in the 21st century" and with due respect to the White Stripes, Coldplay, the Killers, Black Keys, System of a Down and others--all of whom I like--it's not as is there have been a plethora of really great contemporary rock bands, especially among any still extant.

And while, at least today--specifically--I would give Arcade Fire the nod over any of the aforementioned, due to a combination of recorded and concert prowess (and consistency), none of their songs or even albums would likely rank among my Top 50, or even 100 or more, favorites of all-time.

Which oddly helps to connote why I have found them--once again--to be such a magnificent live act.

The band--more like an orchestra as there were up to 12 members onstage at a time--certainly have many terrific songs from four good-to-great albums, but it's not as if their catalog compares to that of Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Billy Joel, U2 or most of the "legacy acts" that now largely comprise my concert calendar.

But not only is there something inherently entrancing about seeing a band clearly in their prime--something I ruefully rarely am inspired to do these days, given the sparsity of new acts I know and like--but as concert performers, the Montreal-based collective goes exponentially beyond what their recorded oeuvre would suggest.

In other words, with clearly well-planned, practiced and presented stagecraft, Arcade Fire greatly amplifies their material--in multiple contexts.

I have attended hundreds of concerts in arenas, most frequently sitting in the highest level, but until Tuesday night I don't recall sitting in the 3rd deck of the United Center and having my seat rattle throughout the show.

In terms of sheer sonic force, I can't readily think of any concerts that have--well, rocked--me to the same extent.

AC/DC and Metallica come to mind, but those are basically power chord, bass and drum assaults.

With pianos, horns, violins, bongo drums and the typical rock gear, Arcade Fire's blast is one of instrumentation with greater depth and breadth than anyone--not even Springsteen with the mighty E Street band is as aurally rich and thunderous.

It's hard to describe, especially as while one can readily imagine many influences--Talking Heads, David Bowie, Springsteen, LCD Soundsystem, punk bands and much more--Arcade Fire isn't readily comparable to anyone else. But perhaps try to imagine a Wilco-Nirvana mashup and you may get a sense of what Arcade Fire sounds like live.

And with a variety of visual accoutrements--including costumes, masks, background videos, elaborate lighting, even a group of men proudly dancing in effeminate fashion during "We Exist"--Arcade Fire made their concert feel almost like a party.

Speaking of parties, I was rather late to discovering Arcade Fire's power & prowess as a live act.

I liked their much-acclaimed debut album, Funeral, and got their second, Neon Bible, but even in appreciating 2010's The Suburbs and seeing a full streaming concert around its release, I really didn't know "what the fuss was all about" until seeing them in April 2011 at the UIC Pavilion.

My review of that show was rather similarly fawning to this one, so although I can identify with any skepticism of those who have never seen Arcade Fire--especially indoors--I wasn't all that surprised by how good they were at the United Center.

Yet I was still awestruck astonished.

Of 20 songs played over a near 2-hour show, seven were from 2013's Reflektor, which being a double album with a prevalent dance vibe, isn't as thorough satisfying as earlier albums. For other bands featuring so much new material might have seemed dubious.

But not a single song dragged and the title tune, "Joan of Arc" (restarted after a technical snafu), "Afterlife" and "Normal Person" were among the show's highlights.

Of course, "Neighborhood 3 (Power Out)," "Month of May," "The Suburbs," "Keep the Car Running," "No Cars Go," "Ready to Start," "Rebellion (Lies)," "Sprawl II" and "Wake Up" were also tremendous.

(See the full 8/26/14 setlist for Arcade Fire in Chicago on Setlist.fm)

After bringing David Johansen, David Byrne and Marky Ramone onstage at recent New York shows--exacerbating Arcade Fire's trend of playing a locally-relevant cover--it was a bit disappointing that Tuesday night brought no special Chicago guest, merely a rendition of "Who Do You Love?" by Bo Diddley, who I've never much identified with the Windy City (wrongly, per Wikipedia).

But while I will feel a twinge of envy if I hear that Billy Corgan or Dennis DeYoung showed up on Wednesday, in a way Arcade Fire was so good on their own that a gimmicky special guest may have felt a tad unnecessary or even off-putting. (Note: Mavis Staples joined the band Wednesday for a version of the Rolling Stones, "The Last Time," which has no obvious ties to Chicago, not having been recorded at Chess Records' studios.)

For as it were, in terms of getting satisfaction from my ticket purchase back in late 2013, Arcade Fire had me at "Devo."

Though I've always known of the Ohio-based artsy punkish band--largely via their flowerpot hats and ubiquitous 1980 single "Whip It"--I now realize they are a band I should have seen live long before their opening stint for Arcade Fire.

Running through a terrific set of songs--I had done some pre-show Spotifying but not much--that included "Girl You Want," "Whip It," "Uncontrollable Urge," "Mongoloid," "Freedom of Choice," "Jocko Homo" (a.k.a. "We are Devo") and "Beautiful World--while undergoing three costume changes without leaving the stage (except for lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh), Devo sounded incredible.

In between their set and Arcade Fire, a DJ named Dan Deacon led a variety of audience-participation dance-offs on the General Admission arena floor.

On another night, having seen two fans in frog costumes dancing for the masses may have merited mentioning a bit earlier, or even a photograph. Heck, I haven't even mentioned that Arcade Fire took the stage after walking through the crowd on the floor.

There's actually a number of things I've left unsaid, including naming any of the band members. 

But I'm ready for bed and I think you've gotten the point.

Though--as with Springsteen, still my favorite ever performer of any ilk--one won't really get it until they see for themselves.

---

While it won't nearly do being there justice, here's a clip of the show closing "Wake Up" that I shot, which includes lead singer Win Butler's shout-out to Derrick Rose: