Credit: Found On Internet

Brixton Academy

Friday 16 March 2007

Those Canadians – there’s no-one else who does Big Concept Band stuff quite as well. Along with the pure muso-indulgence presented by Broken Social Scene, tonight’s post-folk heroes Arcade Fire, are filling stages in ways that the rest of the world can only stand and stare agape at.

Latest single “Keep The Car Running” is a pivot-point between Funeral and the new album. While keeping in with the timbre and ambiance of their debut, it carries with it a sense of larger grandeur that the band has approached with Neon Bible. The crowd responds to the increased vision of the band with a strident reception.

With precise neon strips dotted about the stage, there’s a casual confidence that the ten-piece have that belies the underlying uber-competence that they all seem to be oozing these days. If I were to describe it was a demented journey into Bowie territory by some lost Springsteen moments, you’d get some idea of the depth of the possibilities on offer from the band now.

If the sheer weight in numbers of the band wasn’t enough, they’ve got some of the best visuals of any band playing venues of this size. This isn’t something I’d usually gush over, but across the stage they had a brace of super-sized 1920s-style TV tubes spread across the stage. By filming themselves and piping it live to the tubes like a black’n’white flapper documentary, it’s like watching a self-referential 1920s vaudeville loop. It is genius.

Wherever you look, Win Butler is there. Whether he’s leading from stage centre, playing rhythm on the wings, or going cymbal crazy (there’s no other word for it) on the extra drum kit, but along with Régine Chassagne, he’s the driving force behind the collective.

Everyone goes mad for “Rebellion (Lies)”. The floor of the Academy turns into undulating throb of hands clapping in unison, while an army of feet stomps out a beat to that sounds like an army looking to conquer a nation. Or at the very least, occupy a considerable market town till the cider runs out.