GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR
Who
I conceived a plan of travelling to South East England between Wimbledon and the two gigs to ensure I used my time effectively, and the main annoyance was when The Killers (supported by the Kaiser Chiefs!) announced their own show at Hyde Park on Friday 24th after I'd made other plans. I just pray I'll have another opportunity to see Brandon & Co doing their thing as I always seem to miss out! I put this disappointment behind me though by hearing every single Arcade Fire track I owned and doing a reasonable job of learning The Suburbs album which I'd purchased fairly promptly after it had been released. It was a reasonable album but I feel it lacks the killer tunes of Funeral and Neon Bible, even though its overall quality was possibly the highest yet. It's a total lie that Neon Bible had been a failure by any definition as it included some awesome tunes, but history was being rewritten as I witnessed the surreal spectacle of Arcade Fire cleaning up at both the Brits and the Grammys. Maybe the album is a bit easier to get into than the first two, but it's certainly no better? I did try to get into it by recording a very Suburbs-heavy Arcade Fire greatest hits of my own and succeeded to a degree, but I still can't quite understand the extra hype. This may also be a good time to say a big fuck you to the continuity announcer who spoke over the live version of Ready To Start at the Grammys in perhaps the most annoying incident of its kind in history! But anyway, on the Saturday before I had the chance to set my tent up and sleep outside, which was awesome apart from the abundance of insects. I've already covered Wimbledon above, which was an awesome experience, then Tuesday morning to Thursday afternoon was spent travelling around a bit, taking in such places as Canterbury, Rochester, Dover, Margate and Deal. The plan had been to arrive at Rochester late on Wednesday, leave our bags at the hotel in the morning then explore the town on Thursday morning, before retrieving our stuff and heading back to London in time for Arcade Fire. This plan was somewhat shattered as we were staying in a pub in scummy Stroud and, after waking up early thanks to the crazily noisy road outside, there was no-one else around to leave our stuff with. Carrying my enormous bag around was a frustration but ultimately it didn't stop us getting in anywhere and helped us finish Rochester a bit earlier before we headed back to London. I should have guessed there'd be a con when the room was only £30 a night!
We were able to freshen up and now had plenty of time, thankfully giving us a chance to recover and to appreciate the show properly. We headed back into central London and had the misfortune to wander down Oxford Street to head towards Marble Arch. I will never fail to be disgusted by the volume of people on a work day who were out shopping, who are either unemployed or are totally wasting some valuable holiday leave. We fought our way past them and headed into the pub I knew. A massive building had now been erected in front of it but, strangely enough, now it was no longer visible it was busier than ever! I had an average Spanish lager from Barcelona in a very pretty glass and enjoyed a ginormous mixed grill, which was especially welcome as I didn't want to waste money or valuable gig time eating when the music was on. The gates had opened at 2:30pm and we got inside at 4pm, just in time for a serious bout of rain. Partners In Health were mentioned on our ticket so I wonder if a donation had been included in the cost, like had happened in 2007? On the back of the ticket it stated that you could take in plastic bottles of "less than 500ml" and the Nazi security guards were busily checking everyone's bags, seemingly just to identify and confiscate water. I think they were trying to cheat everyone who figured that 500ml bottles would be fine, but were confounded by the technicality that 500ml is not actually less than 500ml. The idea of this happening as a blatant ploy to increase bottled water sales inside was utterly disgusting and there'd be a certain justice if the organiser who'd dreamed up this policy had got brutally shot in the venue, as the security were only looking for water to confiscate, not dangerous articles! But in fact we hadn't even tried to take in our own water, figuring we wouldn't be able to, and only spotted that entry condition once inside, so were quite prepared to spend £4 on a couple of bottles each then keep them refilled using the water taps near the toilets. There was a definite justice in our boycotting all the other food, drink and merchandise in protest at the usual rip-off prices and policies. Pimm's was something crazy like £12, and for some random reason Tuborg was the beer of choice at all of the stalls.
In contrast though the stage itself had no space for advertising whatsoever. It did say "Arcade Fire" on the screen when the acts weren't playing, also there was a suburbs theme as there were aerial views of housing estates on the side of the stage, which looked very pretty and desirable to me, although I don't know if that's what you're supposed to think of them! The video screens were rather small, taking up just the middle third of the stage on either side, but I found out later that this was a clever ploy to save the best for the main act. Owen Pallett was first to perform, appearing onstage shortly after we arrived on site. We watched a bit from a distance but it was all rather dull and repetitive and I'm shocked to read that he's heavily associated with Arcade Fire, with Wikipedia even stating that he co-wrote the strings arrangement for the albums Funeral and Neon Bible! I can barely remember anything he did, although I do recall that he used a violin, but we were happy to wander off to explore the site before the real action started. There was a very nice looking bar area with tables outside but it was all soaked thanks to the sudden downpour. There were even some board games on the tables, which I believe was somehow part of The Suburbs theme which the band had been discussing beforehand in the NME, but they'd all been ruined in the rain. I wonder if anyone played some of the games later once the weather improved? In the tent behind the main stage they were showing Scenes From The Suburbs on repeat but the people inside seemed interested only in sheltering and we didn't hang around! I think I may also have glanced the whisky bar which had also been discussed beforehand, but I never spotted the arcade, which is a shame as that would have been awesome fun, but undoubtedly would have been rammed! There was also a random cool canopy spurting dry ice onto anyone who cared to walk underneath, and many of the food stores seemed to belong to a "gourmet" chain, which I guess is the excuse for the prices they charge! The backstage area seemed to be filled with giant plastic flowers for some reason, and fortunately it was starting to dry off by now. Not that any of this stuff ultimately matters though as I believe you only go to music shows for the music, and I'd happily exchange all of the gimmicks for reasonable prices and to have some proper beer on sale.
We headed back towards the main stage and got ourselves into a reasonable position. There was a secondary barrier, which I can't recall being there before, which is great as the wankers who get in late then charge forwards will get stuck, and don't even realise that there's a barrier stopping them from progressing! We heard rumours that they'd be closing off the inner barrier area later on but saw no evidence that this actually happened. The arena was generally pretty similar to how it had been last time, with the same expensive seated area situated miles away from the stage, but also devoid of the flags surrounding the arena there'd been before. Interestingly there were two screens at the top of the stage - a bit like you'd get outside a cinema - clearly stating what time each band would be onstage, which was a nice convenient bit of communication! I'd even received an email before the show stating what time the bands would be on but, in all the chaos of the many things I was doing over that week, hadn't paid much notice! The Vaccines came onstage at 4:40pm and provided strong evidence of my theory that you can quite reliably judge a band from studying a couple of photos. Also the few seconds of live footage I'd seen of them at Glasto had convinced me that they were the "great hopes" of 2011, which probably doesn't mean much in such an awful period for new music! They were backed by a big Vaccines banner showing their album cover, which is simultaneously cool and bland - I'm not quite sure which. The Vaccines quickly impressed me when they played Post Break-Up Sex, which was instantly catchy and I shot a video of some of it. This may be the time to mention that my camera had randomly decided its lens was damaged and kept shutting itself down every minute or so, which had been incredibly annoying me all week. Also, when shooting videos, the lens decides to shake alarmingly and then shut down at any point it feels like, which did reduce my desire to film the evening somewhat. The band appeared effortlessly cool and the main flaw was the indifferent attitude of the crowd who just weren't listening. Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra) is clearly the stand-out Vaccines track so I whipped my camera out again and caught some of it on film, but was shocked and baffled when it was all finished in under 90 seconds? When I got home and hunted for the original version I was disappointed not only by its length but by the piss-poor production. I just hope that there's a better version of it somewhere, as it would not be difficult for the band to record their best song properly and it could easily be extended to 3 minutes. I think it takes the record off Mardy Bum by Arctic Monkeys as the definitive act of career sabotage of a band's greatest song!
My third video opportunity came when The Vaccines burst into If You Wanna, which was so exciting and catchy that even the crowd got into it and started to clap along. Surprisingly, Matt who I was with claimed not to like them because he couldn't hear the words properly, and I have to admit that the vocals were a bit drony, but The Vaccines utterly kicked the shit out of the other support bands, and it was much better to see them playing second fiddle at a big outdoor show like this then going out of my way to watch them playing a toilet venue somewhere. They certainly lived up to my expectations anyway. We hung around after this waiting for Beirut to take to the stage. I had heard only one song beforehand - Postcards From Italy - which had sounded OK. However I soon discovered that Beirut's fatal flaw was that every single fucking song sounded exactly the same, being completely drenched in mournful French horn and whiny singing. The worst part was that some songs started out differently then degenerated into exactly the same horn workout, and someone pointed out that the singer even had a bloody French horn tattoo on his arm! It's a shame because, if they'd simply MIXED IT UP A BIT it may have been tolerable, but it seems that the band have found their furrow and refuse to leave it, no matter how shite and samey that furrow may be! We left after a bit for a toilet break and to refill our water bottles before heading back in, hoping to grab a better spot when people left after Beirut finished. I captured some of Postcards From Italy on video seeing as it's the only Beirut song I know, and I note from their setlist below that the band have some cool song titles such as The Gulag Orkestar or My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille. I'm also surprised to note that they somehow played sixteen songs, which was a shocker as they all felt like they were ten minutes long. I was glad when it was finished and hope that Beirut are decent enough to ditch the horns and try making some proper music in the future, but don't hold much hope! The crowd wasn't too busy after Beirut finished and we were able to secure a central spot and sit down, although strangely enough we always seem to be on the very edge of any seated area that develops, leaving us victims to endless people pushing past. This time round though we were actually OK. The seated people also perform a valuable service as when everyone stands up when a band comes on it frees up lots of space for everyone to enjoy!
Apart from the usual plague of massive-headed people there was some wanker in front holding up a completely unnecessary pink umbrella which, unsurprisingly, people were throwing things at in the hope it would get put away. The inconsiderate individual did put it away completely by the time of the main act, and I think it was down for much of Mumford & Sons, but by this point it had been replaced by an even more annoying bright green mac being held aloft, seemingly just for the purpose of annoying me! Also there was a plague of people holding their phones in the air for seemingly no reason, as they weren't even filming the show. I'm always careful to only shoot videos with the camera at my eye level, which may reduce the quality of my footage but is a basic courtesy that perhaps others should try! Mumford & Sons had a dull black and white backdrop and took to the stage to a rapturous reception at 7pm. One mate beforehand had said they were awful and another had said that they were great, but my instinct said that they'd be mediocre at best, partly judging by their ramshackle Brits performance. I was unsurprised to be proved correct but shocked by how well they went down with much of the crowd. They came across as incredibly nice guys burdened by unspeakably lame songs, who were trying their best to hammer life into them with lifeless acoustic guitars! They had quite a lightshow too and an amazingly bearded guy who looked like Wolverine, plus I think I even recognised one of the songs a bit! The crowd reaction was unfathomable, most notably the mass sing-along, plus a young girl with her mother in front who was dancing around like their lame songs were the greatest things she'd ever heard in her life! I fully expect she left before Arcade Fire, or at least was standing at the back by this time, so missed out on the chance to see a real band in action. Mumford's even debuted a few new songs and claimed that this was their last show before they went back into the studio to start work on their second album. This helped make the show feel like a bit of an event but sadly was a lie as I've spotted that they played Benicassim just two weeks later!! It's a shame as they did come across as such nice people but the songs had very little to recommend them and the show got worse as it went on, so it appeared they'd blown their "finest" tunes all towards the start as well.
During all of this some old guy was sitting down throughout much of the show and clearly couldn't handle the mild efforts of standing up for a couple of hours. When Mumford's finished he showed no signs of leaving, despite it being clear that he'd never recover for two hours of full-on Arcade Fire, so we edged our way away from him even closer to the middle to make sure we didn't get roped into helping him out if he passed out later on. Eventually he disappeared, so was either trampled to death or had developed the good sense to leave, so that was an inconvenience averted! If you can't stand the heat, don't enter the moshpit! We again managed to sit down as there was a surprising amount of space and, as we were in the centre, less people were pushing past. Once you get to the centre I guess you have no reason to push anymore! By now the stage lights declared "coming soon - Arcade Fire" and we were looking forwards to their 8:45pm start and the 90 minute set they'd got scheduled for us! I passed the time by taking a few photos of the sunset but it was still fairly light when the new large video screen in the centre of the stage started up with some clips from Sound Of The Suburbs, which had an amazing 80s zombie film vibe and looked like it could have been produced by The Dharma Initiative! I filmed much of this before my camera cut out yet again and the video screen even flashed up "feature presentation" with some awesome 80s music before the band walked onstage to The Suburbs (Continued) as their backing music before launching straight into Ready To Start. It was the obvious opener and the one I'd predicted, but what I didn't expect was a full video screen being unveiled so that the sides of the stage were dominated by enormous portrait footage being filmed from the stage, which was unusual as I'm sure cameramen must film for their whole lives in landscape. Also the three video screens onstage were being utilised in full, at some points even seamlessly projecting live onto pre-recorded footage! Win had half-shaved his hair and it took a while studying him from different angles to figure out what had changed! Also one of the lady violinists had a crazy half-shaved haircut and Régine was wearing a very fetching white dress covered in what could have been flecks of paint, but it certainly worked.
But anyway, after the typically rousing opener the band generated the shock of the evening by launching straight into WAKE UP!? Everyone was caught completely off guard but I had the good sense to realise that this was the best song so soon got into it, getting my camera out again for another video. A lot of the crowd though failed to appreciate what they were hearing. I know that having the best song played so early in the set when the sun hasn't even gone down wasn't ideal, but you should make the most of it! However everyone else stood still like gorms, seemingly not realising that this was their big chance to enjoy the song, and it's a bit lame to think that they couldn't enjoy it without being warmed up first! Blur two years beforehand had demonstrated that it was possible to go utterly mental to the first few songs if the tunes are good enough and the crowd is full of real fans, so it can be done! The band still shouldn't have played it so bloody early though, and the sound quality wasn't quite right either, but Win's excuse was that they wanted to play it while they could still see our faces! I fear it was more likely a cunning ploy to try to make us enjoy their other songs more, perhaps they're maneuvering to drop it from their set, but I'm afraid I'd have to lynch them if they ever dared do that! Not that I'm condoning it, but this stunt did mean nobody needed warming up any more for the rest of the set, and No Cars Go was greeted with the rapture that it deserved, being accompanied by a bizarre black and white video of what may have been two girls in almost-balaclava's driving down a motorway. Yet again I captured it on camera! Haiti was next up and was backed up with a slightly dubious tropical backdrop, considering it's hardly a tropical paradise thanks to earthquakes and poverty. Régine gave a shout-out to some people waving white pom poms, which apparently were being sold for £1 with the funds going to Haiti. It may have been at this point when Win gave a shout-out to a random crowdsurfer, who'd chosen to crowdsurf at perhaps the least dramatic part of the entire set! However, it's still a lovely song, especially when Régine does her dance with streamers towards the end, and it worked much better than Intervention which was ruined due to poor sound quality. I'm not sure if it was the lack of the organ which was the problem or if the sound issues were more general, but it just came across as underwhelming and projecting a picture of an organ onto the screen is not a worthwhile substitute for the real thing!
My favourite song on the new album is definitely Rococo and it was next up but it never quite got going. I'd witnessed a few live renditions at the festivals last year where it had started off quite slowly then burst into awesome life but this didn't quite work this time. It's a shame as Rococo had been the anthem of my trip to Poland the previous year, where for some reason I started singing "Wrocław" in place of "Rococo" and dreamed of going there as well. This was a bit of a reminder though that Arcade Fire had been on the road for a very long time and were surely coming to the end of The Suburbs tour! I rarely appreciate new songs but the setlist was all very familiar so the live debut of Speaking In Tongues was actually rather welcome, even if apparently it's just a reject from The Suburbs? By now it was getting properly dark at last which was just what we wanted to really appreciate The Crown Of Love, which just seems to sound better every time I hear it live! Richard did his usual reaching-for-the-sky-with-his-tambourine-in-time-to-the-music thing but it didn't need anything new to make me love it more. Once I got back home I updated my Arcade Fire hits by re-adding Crown Of Love and Haiti to it, kicking off a couple of Suburbs tracks to make room for them! One of the tracks I kicked off was The Suburbs itself, which was next up but I have no recollection of its performance. It was now time to hit top gear however and the Month Of May did not disappoint, with an awesome flashy light show in time to the music as I got my camera out and got filming yet again! This segued beautifully into Rebellion (Lies) and I showed up everyone else as NOT REAL FANS by spotting that they'd started playing Rebellion (Lies) ages before anyone else noticed, and correctly singing "lies! lies!", compared to the majority of so-called fans, who just thought they were singing "aaah! aaah!" I filmed this too and frankly it's embarrassing for them to get the words wrong. I wonder how many people tonight had only got into the band thanks to The Suburbs and hadn't even heard the old songs before, which is a scary thought but I guess there were some like that! It's an awesome song though, and after we sung it back at them for a bit it was followed by the long-awaited Neighborhood #2 (Laika), which included the usual faux-fight between band members onstage. May they never stop doing that as long as they live! We Used To Wait was then slotted in and stood up reasonably amongst the mighty tunes surrounding it. Win demonstrated that he'd developed a bit of a routine for himself by singing directly into the cameras exactly as he'd done at the festivals, but Arcade Fire are a well-oiled live act so a few trademark stunts are welcomed, even if you could say it makes it less special to know they do the same "spontaneous" things every single night!
Arcade Fire then ticked the box which had been such a source of disgrace the first two times I'd seen them by its absence, by playing an utterly overwhelming version of Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)! It was backed by an outrageous red light show and I'm just glad that the power didn't go out as I made it my last filmed moment of the evening. The band left the stage to rapturous applause but were quick to come back on, Win complaining about rich neighbours, either referring to the early curfew or volume restrictions. However it sounded damn loud to me once it had got going, and who cares about the curfew of 10:30pm if a band manage to play a full set anyway? It simply stops them from finishing too late and thereby making it impossible for their fans to get home! The encore started with Keep The Car Running and somebody set off a Chinese lantern, which Win was very impressed by. I'd been practising the scream in the middle and it will always be one of the top moments of any Arcade Fire gig. I demand anyone who dismisses Neon Bible to find a moment on The Suburbs as exciting as that scream! I will always scrutinise Arcade Fire setlists very closely, partly because of their self-indulgence back in 2007 and also because it's so clear what their best songs are. My research had indicated that they'd be playing an awesome setlist, finding plenty of time for all the classics plus lots of new songs. The fact that they could so easily find room for everything after three albums just goes to show how unforgivable and downright despicable the omission of both Power Out and Laika the first two times I'd seen them had been! Also I think it's better for the band, as we were able to take away and enjoy the new songs so much more, even though I still feel Neon Bible edges it, and Funeral is unbeatable due to the power of its best songs. My point though was that Arcade Fire had ticked every single box I could think of once they started an unspeakably powerful rendition of Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels). This is the point where I wished I hadn't waited a full month before writing up this review as I can't remember too many details, but judging from the length of my review as it stands that may be for the best!
Arcade Fire showed no signs of leaving the stage and shocked me by finishing on Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains). I'd completely forgotten about it and think it's one of the loveliest songs they'd ever written, but it barely works live and sure as hell isn't a set closer. After pissing away the obvious choice of Wake Up at the start though and having played absolutely everything I'd wanted to hear, I guess I can forgive an underwhelming closer, especially when it's a good song which if they hadn't played I'd be reporting it as the worst omission right about now! Incredibly, the only song they didn't play off my personal Arcade Fire Best Of was Modern Man, which is a newbie! I guess Black Mirror, Black Wave/Bad Vibrations and Windowsill would have been alright too, but they are very much Neon Bible songs, so I don't think I'd choose to kick anything off the setlist to make room for them. It's pretty astonishing to think that there's not a single old song I'd choose to add to the setlist, and that could even be a first for me! Also we didn't come anywhere near to running out of water, which was a nice contrast with previous years where I'd come away feeling utterly parched! It was rather busy but we slowly edged our way back to Victoria train station without too much difficulty and made it back. Apart from early sound problems and pissing away Wake Up at the outset, Arcade Fire had played close to a perfect set. Now I read the setlist below I just can't believe how strong it was! They seemed to be nearing the end of their tour but I was intrigued to note they'd got a date lined up at Edinburgh Castle as well, although I bet they played outside the castle itself! However we had another big night ahead of us so went to bed as soon as I devoured one of those fantastic M&S luxury selection of wraps to make up for starving myself since 4pm! It probably wasn't quite at the ridiculously high benchmark that Blur and Macca had set in the years before but Arcade Fire had played an awesome set and I very much am looking forwards to their fourth album and repeating this experience in 2014 or so!
Mark: 9.0/10
Arcade Fire
Support
Mumford & Sons
Beirut
The Vaccines
Where
London Hyde Park
When
30th June 2011
Price
£48.50
Who with
Matt
Position
Towards the front
Comments
It had been over three months since my last gig and now I was going to have three awesome shows over sixteen exciting days! Also I'd seen Arcade Fire three times before - albeit in 2007 only - so I was very keen to revisit their live show and see how things had moved on. It had felt at the time that Arcade Fire were on an unstoppable trajectory into my exclusive top ten bands list. However Gogol Bordello then came along and stole pretty much all their thunder, leaving Arcade Fire as just another rather good band in my collection. This week had been a long time in the planning as I'd applied for Wimbledon tickets the year before and was pleased to obtain tickets for Court 1 on the middle Monday once I'd realised I had an awesome chance of seeing some star names. I'd obviously wanted Centre Court but it worked out nicely as I got to see the three best fourth round ties of the day - Serena Williams being knocked out by Marion Bartoli in straight sets, eventual champion Novak Djokovic storming past Michaël Llodra and the legendary Roger Federer struggling to beat the surprisingly awesome Mikhail Youzhny over four sets - while everyone else was obsessing over Andy Murray as he stumbled onto his inevitable defeat in the semi-final! But anyway, once I realised that Arcade Fire and The Flaming Lips were playing Thursday and Friday respectively of the same week it was obvious that I needed to be down south for the duration, even though I loathe to spend valuable holiday leave in England. Arcade Fire playing Hyde Park was obviously a major event and the last chance I'd have to see them on The Suburbs tour. Also I'd developed quite a taste for live music in Hyde Park, following Blur in 2009 and Sir Macca in 2010, and I was keen to continue my festival-lite record over consecutive summers since I'd last done it properly back in 2006. As Glastonbury is giving it a miss in 2012, the likelihood is I'll want to do a full-on festival in 2013 to "celebrate" turning 30. That may also prove a good time to turn my back on "young person" gigging as I do get a bit sick of all the standing around to save your place and so forth. I'm not sure I'm ready to graduate to boring seated shows yet, but it's certainly a lot less hassle and does become more tempting as time goes by. My second show was a promised run-through of The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips at Alexandra Palace. Fittingly this had been the last place I'd seen Arcade Fire, so it was clear that these were two utterly unmissable shows, and surely anyone with any taste in London would be at both events?
Setlist (The Vaccines)
Blow It Up
Post Break-Up Sex
Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)
A Lack Of Understanding
Wetsuit
Under Your Thumb
All In White
If You Wanna
We're Happening
Nørgaard
Setlist (Beirut)
Nantes
Vagabond
The Shrew
Elephant Gun
The Concubine
After The Curtain
Postcards From Italy
Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)
Scenic World
Santa Fe
A Sunday Smile
East Harlem
The Akara
My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille
Cherbourg
The Gulag Orkestar
Setlist (Mumford & Sons)
Roll Away Your Stone
Winter Winds
Little Lion Man
Below My Feet
White Blank Page
Timshel
Hopeless Wanderer
Lover Of The Light
Thistle & Weeds
Home
Awake My Soul
Lover's Eyes
Dust Bowl Dance
The Cave
Setlist (Arcade Fire)
The Suburbs (Continued) [snippet]
Ready To Start
Wake Up
No Cars Go
Haiti
Intervention
Rococo
Speaking In Tongues
Crown Of Love
The Suburbs
Month Of May
Rebellion (Lies)
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
We Used To Wait
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Keep The Car Running
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
