For once, I have no idea what to say, so I shall begin this blog (gloriously) with adoring descriptions of the greatness of Arcade Fire. Yes, I may have seen them live roughly 2 years ago, a mere amateur aged 14, yet that single night was one of the (cliché alert!) most defining moments of my 16 years. The ache of manically grinning for several hours straight was proof of the (happy) incredulity with which I watched my favourite band playing even more amazingly than I really believed possible. And when Regine began singing Sprawl II. Woah. That was pretty much one of the happiest moments of my life. I realise that I sound like a babbling fool, so after establishing that I kind of enjoyed the gig, I shall now attempt to logically say why the gig may have proven to be so bloody great.
1) Devendra Banhart. This deity of a man came on, half-pissed, clutching a wine bottle, walked off halfway through his set, tripping over wires, came back on looking barely able to stand up and played a solo for the next ten minutes. It was glorious. Nothing more needs to be said.
2) Regine’s dress. This sequinned, ribboned and entirely wonderful creation not only allowed Regine to monopolise on her AWESOME dance moves (the ribbons proved to be pretty useful for this…) but also this was THE dress which she had worn to THE Madison Square Gardens concert (the one where the drum machine fucked up). We were served a piece of bright and lovely New York, in the middle of cold, dark and insalubrious Birmingham: Win memorably said that “we’ve been to shit-holes, and Birmingham is up there”, the pride I felt!
3) The crowd. Never before have I been so proud of my fellow Midlandians: they turned up on mass, didn’t heckle the band (apart from the one bloke who shouted “I LOVE YOU REGINE!” to which Win replied “I hope you love me too…”. We did.) and there was a hushed/stunned silence when Win began My Body Is A Cage: for once, the song wasn’t ruined by people screaming the lyrics! Even the mosh pit was relatively civilised: some other young ‘uns and I were shoved to the front instead of being crushed by, what seemed like then, 2 years and several inches ago, a rugby team. However, looking back on the photos and the people in the background, there are so many old people! (Being 16, old for me is 35+; I doubt there would have been many OAPs in the crowd). Thinking about it, the lyrics, especially on The Suburbs, deal with concepts (nostalgia for a lost childhood, questioning religion etc) that really only people around Arcade Fire’s age can identify with. Maybe the reason why teenagers feel that their lyrics may resonate with them is because of their idealised concept of the angst-y teenager: that they themselves should feel angry against the Church, bitter about their “lost childhood”. Or maybe not. This is far too deep for me to be considering at 6:00 in the morning!
Anyway, it’s safe to say that basically this will probably remain the greatest concert of my life (it being my first, and also it being Arcade Fire, obviously!) But y’know, I’m open to maybe gracing a few more concerts with my presence perhaps… (I joke: sarcasm doesn’t often come out very well on computer)
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