Arcade Fire - CIA, Cardiff - December 9th 2011 (Live Review)
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Written by Rhys Morgan
It was quite surprising that a show, put on by one of the most talented bands in the world could sneak up on you like this. Tickets were bought months in advance, but even the day before I was oblivious to the fact I'd be watching these multi talented musicians in 24 hours. Also oblivious to me was just how wide Arcade Fire's fan base was. The crowd was, well, very middle aged. But that didn't stop the crowd being more than energetic.
Kicking things off with 'Ready to Start', this band clearly want to put on a real show. As the gig goes from song to song the band go from instrument to instrument. Win may dabble on the piano, Regine may have a blast on the drums and Will, well Will seemed to enjoy beating the shit out of a tom drum. The set was expectedly full of tracks from 'The Suburbs' and they went down very well with the crowd but it was the handful of tracks from 'Funeral' and 'Neon Bible' that the crowd were clearly waiting for. 'No Cars Go', 'Rebellion' and 'Laika' were the pick of the bunch. 'Spraw II' was a highlight of the set. Regine flaunted her dance moves as she took to the front of the stage.
Then Win made his feelings for T.G.I. Friday's very vocal (he fucking hates it) before going into 'The Suburbs' and altering the lyrics to further clarify his hatred for T.G.I. Friday's. It's kind of an unspoken rule that Arcade Fire finish there shows on 'Wake Up' so when they fired into it I was fully expecting that to be it, no encore, end of show and I would have been left fully satisfied. But it wasn't the end. The band returned for two more songs. Firstly Neon Bible's 'Intervention', which stands as a bad choice with me as it is possibly the most depressing song ever? They finished proper on 'Tunnels' which I had completely forgotten about.
This is a band that can deliver. Whether on record or live they will not leave you disappointed and you'll be ravenous for more. Arcade Fire: the best band in the world?
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Then Win made his feelings for T.G.I. Friday's very vocal (he fucking hates it) before going into 'The Suburbs' and altering the lyrics to further clarify his hatred for T.G.I. Friday's. It's kind of an unspoken rule that Arcade Fire finish there shows on 'Wake Up' so when they fired into it I was fully expecting that to be it, no encore, end of show and I would have been left fully satisfied. But it wasn't the end. The band returned for two more songs. Firstly Neon Bible's 'Intervention', which stands as a bad choice with me as it is possibly the most depressing song ever? They finished proper on 'Tunnels' which I had completely forgotten about. 
