Arcade Fire Show Review

It’s hard to think of a band in the last decade that’s received as much critical acclaim and praise as Montreal’s Arcade Fire, but then again, few other bands have continually lived up to such high expectations.
The band showed that they are still building upon the initial success of their first release Funeral, as thousands of fans flooded Toronto’s Olympic Island to watch the band perform during their current tour for their newest record, The Suburbs.
The band set the pace of the evening’s concert early, using two of The Suburbs faster paced songs “Ready To Start” and “Month Of May” to kick off what would be one of the best concerts on Olympic Island to date. Each and every song that followed was played with the same stage presence and intensity that is known to come with Arcade Fire’s now famous live show. All of this was done while taking little time in between songs, so that they could continue to play favourites such as “Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)” and the encore “Wake Up”.
The only time that the band took a substantial break from their eighteen song set was on an important note, to inform the attentively listening concert goers of a charity called Kanpe (www.kanpe.org). Mentioning that for every person who purchased a ticket to the their concert that evening had made a one dollar donation to help rebuild Haiti, after the devastating earthquake they had experienced in January of this year.
The rest of the concert was filled with beautiful lighting, an elaborate stage set up, and beautiful music that had the crowd singing along with every single word.
Even though the band has become increasingly successful with each passing year, they still seem as content to perform as ever. And how has all of this success and attention changed them you might ask? Not one bit, as they’ve continued to be as humble as ever, using their success in a way that other bands haven’t even considered; to make a difference in the world.
 
Setlist:
Ready to Start
Month of May

Neighborhood #2
(Laika)
No Cars Go

Haiti

Modern Man

Rococo

The Suburbs

The Suburbs (Continued)

Intervention

Crown of Love

Neighborhood #1
(Tunnels)
Sprawl II
(Mountains Beyond Mountains)
We Used to Wait

Neighborhood #3
(Power Out)
Rebellion (Lies)
——————————
Keep the Car Running

Wake Up

-Alex Lupul