Punk Rock Ist Nicht Tot

For me this was a much anticipated gig. Not just because I had been trying to pin down Arcade Fire for about four years now, but this was also the first gig with my delightful German girlfriend who was kind enough to blag us the two tickets (guest list and lounge access – thank you very much!). Venue-wise, I must say I’d been expecting something more akin to the O2 but Berlin Tempodrom is far more intimate than that with floor space half the size of Brixton Academy and amphitheatre style free-seating (!) thus ensuring a pretty good view from wherever you choose in the auditorium. We chose the floor.

Anyhow, to the music… First up the greatly unanticipated Owen Pallett who I’d been tracking for oh, at least a good 24 hours now. Quite the dapper chap, cutting a figure like Tim Ten Yen’s little brother on dress-down Friday after a Thursday night out. And the look was not the only similarity as the backing tracks kicked in. But this is as far as that analogy goes unless Tim Ten Yen ‘does classics’ means anything to anyone? Cue the next shameless reference – Nigel Kennedy…! Fiddling away like his life depended on it (sometimes plucking the strings with his hands “à la Hendrix”), he delivers a performance that warms the crowd in a way that I’m pretty sure no one expected. He also proceeds to confirm his true ancestry – that he is in fact the lovechild of the aforementioned Messrs.Ten Yen and Kennedy but with a hefty dose of Marc Almond’s seed (best not to delve further into that) and a dash of Thom Yorke. Keeping up? Let’s summarise-a dishevelled Tim Ten Yen gets up on stage armed to the teeth with backing tracks, arms flailing, playing violin like Nigel Kennedy, delivering Almond-esque vocals with a wobbly head and song structure that Thom Yorke would be proud of… It was clear from the outset that at the very least this would be an ‘experience’. Oh, and apparently he wrote a song about Arcade Fire – nice work fella! He even joined them on stage at one point which is a bit like the ball boy playing in the cup final but a nice gesture indeed. Come to think of it, I might try penning an ode to Metallica and see if I can join their world tour!

All in all he was pretty damned good, strangely complimenting the main event and even getting a rousing ovation at the end. I’m pretty sure these shenanigans won’t translate well to my trusted hi-fi but we will see!

So to the main event. As a preamble I must admit that I’d been doing my homework, having even gone to the lengths of buying a physical copy of the CD! So this was no even contest – my many years worth of expectations had been buoyed sky high. Having been ‘complimented’ rather than upstaged by Mr.Pallett, the floor was theirs for the taking. And take it they did. They started at 100 miles an hour and giving it 110% (that’s one for all you football fans), and this was the way it was set to stay. With Win Butler sweating from the first chord and Régine Chassagne’s hair getting inexplicably bigger with each powerfully and perfectly delivered note (at the end she resembled Kevin Keegan ca.1977), it was evident that this would be quickly elevated into my top ten – and this is a top ten that hasn’t been touched for some time. I’m reticent to use such a word of course but I daresay I have NEVER seen such a group of accomplished musicians play with such intensity and so well together. I always knew there were a fair few in the band but if you’d told me there were 100 of them, I’d probably have believed you or at least started counting. Such was the frankly sickening way that they moved seamlessly around the stage from instrument to instrument, playing each as well and with the same vigour as the last. Truly shocking. But I didn’t come here to judge a talent contest of musicianship. I came to hear a band play some songs that I like. But which ones? To be completely honest, I’d tried boning up on possible setlists from recent gigs but it was clear from the outset that this is not a band that likes to play the same set every night. And this is probably the band most capable of chopping and changing their set according to mood, such is the talent on display. Kicking off (appropriately) with ‘Ready to Start’, the crowd was lifted to a great height never to be returned to earth. On a personal level I discovered new meanings in some of the songs and a renewed enthusiasm. To me, the second song ‘No Cars Go’ was (perhaps controversially) a weak single. But then I didn’t have the full facts of course – Arcade Fire’s music is most definitely meant to be heard live. That’s not to compare to the frankly many other bands I’ve seen that are crap on CD but “rock” live but rather to say that their songs have multiple levels and the top echelons are only achieved when witnessing them as Win and the gang had intended. In fact this chasing nirvana (notice the small “n”) was quite a theme. In many ways the entire gig was like having sex with Sting (and I am using this shocking and disturbing imagery to make a point about the tantric nature of it) in that the crowd was held on the point of ecstasy for the duration, only achieving carnal satisfaction as Wake Up suitably “climaxed” the evening. Oh and did I mention that they played every other conceivable song that I would have wished for along the way? Well they did. My personal highlight was ‘Neighbourhood (Part I – Tunnels)’ and this was clearly shared by many of my fellow concert goers, but some of the new songs resonated equally well with the crowd. ‘The Suburbs’, ‘Sprawl II’ and ‘We Used to Wait’ to name but three. The low point was that Win Butler had only learnt one word of German (danke) very badly but to be honest no one cared and that’s just being picky – after all, this is a world tour and this is a band where the music said far more than any meaningless banter. A criticism? Well, I don’t know if this counts (and this is really looking hard for something) but they were almost too perfect. They had everything – intensity, immense talent and professionalism, a real love of their trade and a willingness to please. Did it make my top 10? No. It made my top 3 although don’t tell The Pixies that they’ve been edged out!

It is clear from this gig and the way that the new songs were received that Arcade Fire still has a lot left to offer and are very much on top of their game. Some people have called ‘The Suburbs’ Arcade Fire’s ‘OK Computer’ moment but that is simply bollocks. They are much better than that…

*Cliché warning* – 11 out of 10.

Nick Clout

www.arcadefire.com
www.myspace.com/arcadefireofficial
www.myspace.com/owenpallettmusic
www.myspace.com/timtenyen

No related posts.