August 24, 2010

Lollapalooza Top 10 review: No.2 Arcade Fire

I am always the kind of person who says no to things that everyone likes. I don’t just like something because everyone else does. I like to discover things on my own – it kind of makes them ‘mine’ – if that makes any sense. A good example is my soon-to-be failing anti-Apple norm. I did not own any Apple products until my Sony Mp3 player died on me and my company started using Macs at work. Now that I see the benefits of using the superior line of products, I like Apple. I need to have a good reason of liking something. I just cannot like something as everyone uses or likes.

My elitist personality caused a weak first impression on the Montreal born indie band- Arcade Fire. I do recall seeing them performing on the Much Music Video Award in 2004 with the song, "Rebellion (Lies)", the very catchy song with "every time you close eyes, na-nah na-nah. Although I was overwhelmed by their performance on TV, I denied the positive thought on them as they just played on MMVA.-Seriously on MMVA?

This negative impression on the band soon altered as I checked out their first album, "Funeral." However, I was not a big fan of the following album, "Neon Bible." The album was just not strong enough for the band. After breaking through the silence in 2010, Arcade Fire released "Suburbs" in August 2010. Following with the album release, the band commenced a festival tour and Lollapalooza was one of them.

I had purchased the third album on the day it came out as three of my friends already texted me in the morning, telling me how great it is despite the "failure" of the second album- ( just as a quick note, a lot of my friends sort of had the same impression on the second album). It was alright when I first listened to it, (Again, this must have been because I had read so many CD reviews from music magazines prior to the purchase) however, it started growing up on me and by the third time that I listened to it, I loved it. I like how the order of songs was set up and how they sounded more matured, but much more fun.

All these positive insights on the new album, I was, of course, extremely excited to see them at Lolla. Their sound from the stage was superior than any other bands that I saw at the festival- the atmosphere that they created from the stage is indescribable. It is like the stage itself got transferred to somewhere that only people at the show can see the stage performance was so much fun to watch, switching around their instruments to another- only very few talented musicians can do. But while wishing them to keep eyes on the stage, it is almost impossible not to dance along with tunes with people around-even with people that I ever met before.

What surprised me the most was that lots of people were able to already sing along when the band played a number of their new songs. Even the lead singer, Win Butler admitted it during the show. However; I must say that the songs that I enjoyed the most was the songs from the first album, including, Rebellion, Wake Up, and Neighborhood #3 (Power out).

I strongly believe that Arcade fire out-casted Soundgarden, who happened to be playing at the same time as the main closing band. Despite the fact that they have not played any gigs for a decade and a significant number of people were just there for the band, Arcade fire indeed outshined the band. It was funny to hear all the blasted sound from the other side of park by Soundgarden during breaks between songs by Arcade fire. It was so loud-but again; being loud is not always the factor that convinces people, right? With the quality of performance and songs, Arcade Fire indeed won the battle.

It was almost like a miracle to see everyone who was at the show, was singing "Wake Up" It was such an epic moment, which gave me goosebumps just watching so many people are humming the song. It felts like this park was being one and everyone was connected. I will never forget how it felt.

I was very lucky see them again in a week at the Toronto Island. It is such a honor and incredible experience to be the part of both show.


This one is from the Lollapalooza :) 



This video is from Toronto Island show


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