w. tUnE-yArDs & Kid Koala
Friday, 05/02/14
Aaron's Amphitheater at Lakewood
Atlanta, GA
6:30 doors open
7:30 tune yards
8:10 kid koala
8:45 Arcade Fire
We don't like to pump up a single show or album too much, because we understand music, as much as anything is very opinion driven. A song can be listened to many times, but when it is heard that one time in the right setting, at the right time, or with the right people it can click instantaneously. With only one of us having seen Arcade Fire, it was easy to believe in their talent, reputation, and work ethic to know this was a 'can't miss concert' in Atlanta.
To fully discuss this show the first thing that needs to be discussed is expectations and hype. Arcade Fire is largely regarded throughout the music scene as the best live act on the road today. Some of our group had been waiting nearly five years to see Arcade Fire due to various complications. You were always told how incredible they are live and it builds into something in your mind is larger than life. But there is that tiny doubt in the back of your head that whispers, “You love Arcade Fire, but can they really live up to these outlandish expectations that you have created?” The answer to that question was destroyed in the first 3 seconds on the show with a resounding “YES.” You can watch their live shows on TV or the internet, listen to countless audio recordings from shows, but nothing prepares you for what is to come.
From the onset of listening to sound check you can tell how much not only Win Butler, but the entire ensemble puts in to each second of each song. The times retaking and practicing a song from the beginning during at the end of a US tour was impressive. They also worked on their cover of 'Tequila' into 'Normal Person' numerous times. In the actual show they only played about 10 seconds of 'Tequila' (aka Zima) and Win seemed less than thrilled with it, just because it wasn't completely perfect. This wasn't a bad thing, just a snapshot of how much they care and want to make everything perfect for the audience. Very few artists of this caliber strive to not only give the fans a perfect show, but make each show a different memorable experience. Too many bands these days write up one setlist for a tour and it doesn’t change for the rest of the year.
The set up of the concert was perfect with the openers to make quick transitions and leave very little downtime between sets. We found it a little weird that Aaron's parking did not open until 5:30p, with gates opening at 6:30p. It might be that we're use to seeing people tailgating for hours at Lakewood and Verizon around shows like Phish, Widespread Panic, and Dave Matthews that all have their own following and the parking lot turns into it's own event.
tUnE-yArDs came on promptly at 7:30p, but to very little fanfare as it was a late arriving crowd. We're sure many people were coming from work or studying for exams and had to fight rush hour traffic along with a home Braves game, just two exits away. Tune-Yards is the music project of New England native Merrill Garbus. When performing live, Garbus creates drum loops on the spot, and layers these with ukulele, and vocals, in addition to electric bass played by Nate Brenner. She mentioned and thanked her new touring band with included two high energy wood drummers/dancers, a talented, percussionist Dani Markham who also added vocals. Merrill's setup and display is impressive, but her yodeling can easily be lost on the audience. The highlight of the set was probably the beginning when Arcade Fire’s own Sarah Neufield came on stage to play her violin along to the opening song. This was the last stop on her tour with Arcade Fire, as she mentioned multiple times how thankful she was for being asked to join them. Between having been on tour for some time, the impending release of her new album Nikki Nack (available this Tueday), and the seemingly small crowd you could tell she was exhausted, though she gave it her all.
The quick transition between tUnE-yArDs and Kid Koala was mere minutes as the Montreal native's DJ booth setup was off to one corner of the stage. This was a perfect setup as it allowed for the breakdown of Tune-yards and the production that is setting out the ten plus instrumental arrangements for the night's headliner. Kid Koala put on a great show as a throw back to the original DJs who spin multiple vinyls and even works without headphones and did so flawlessly. With mixes of our own Outkast and Roy Orbinson tributes for Mother's Day, he was on top of his game.
Check out what Arcade Fire did to bring the house down after the jump
For a band known as the 'must see live musical act' these days, Arcade Fire has quite the nightly billing to live up to. Having seen them twice, they surpass this reputation every time. To be sure we had the best view possible, we arrived early enough to be second row, stage center in the pit. One of the most impressive things of the night was their overall set design and transition. They took the Reflektor theme and harnessed it perfectly. Opening with their new album and tour's namesake, Reflektor, they grabbed the audience by the collar and we're not sure they've let go of us yet. Some of the band members came out in skull masks, Win Butler appeared dawning a skull bandanna. The song in its entirety can been seen below.
The band quickly went into another song off their 2013 release 'Flashbulb Eyes'. During this song they lowered the video screens to create a hypnotizing spinwheels to add to the show while also lowering the 'ceiling' mirrors to around 10 feet above the stage which created a very intimate feeling for a few songs and especially for those close a feel of a much smaller venue, which was amazing.
One of their most powerful live songs is Neighborhood #3 (Power's Out). It drips with emotion from the band and whips the crowd into a frenzy. As has been the case often on this tour and in some cases previous tours they segued straight into the fan favorite Rebellion (Lies) (full video below).
After two incendiary tracks from Funeral, the band was back with more from Reflektor. Joan of Arc was a tour de force of impact from Win dancing around the stage to Regine’s breathless French. Next, the ruckus Atlanta crowd was treated to Arcade Fire's recently 'unearthed' new track labeled as an outtake from the Reflektorsessions, which had debuted just days before in Columbus, Ohio. The new track 'Get Right' was dedicated to the recently embattled former-Clipper's owner Donald Sterling. Appropriately as their lyrics state "Better get right before you die, better get right...". One thing is for sure, if there are anymore 'outtakes' from Reflektor we want to hear whatever else didn't make this critically acclaimed album.
As we had hoped, just days into the fifth month of the year, we were graced with 'Month of May' off 2010's Grammy award winner The Suburbs. Month of May comes on strong with a machine gun riff that the crowd couldn’t help but dance around to.
Continuing a stream from The Suburbs next came the title track, which Win introduced by proclaiming “from the outside Atlanta looks very similar to Houston [ the Suburbs Win grew up in] but you guys are a lot more weird in the middle which I like!” (video of the intro below)
Next was treated to the extended version of 'Ready to Start' (full video below).
Next was treated to the extended version of 'Ready to Start' (full video below).
After all of the songs in the first half of the show had been grouped by album it was time to jump around. First the band played an exceptional version of We Exist before bittersweet crowd favorite Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels). The next song was one we had heard during the sound check, the full version of Intervention with a stunning outro of Antichrist Television Blues. This was our first song from Arcade Fire’s underrated (as much as an Arcade Fire album can be) sophomore album Neon Bible
After a short intermission we were rejoined by not only Arcade Fire, but also their bobblehead cover band, The Reflektors. As we predicted The Reflektor's did a slowed down covered of Atlanta's favorite sons, Outkast's 'Hey Ya" and Arcade Fire covered local legends R.E.M.'s 'Radio Free Europe'. Not only did they cover R.E.M. but did so to the the groups honored approval, which in and of itself is incredible.
R.E.M. approve. Dreamy stuff.
#RadioFreeEurope pic.twitter.com/lXkUAPtcx6
— Arcade Fire tube (@ArcadeFiretube) May 4, 2014
“Here Comes the Night Time” is one of those songs that as soon as you heard you knew two things, this is going to be great to dance to, and will sound even better live, and we couldn’t have been more right. The Haitian inspired beats were infectious and there wasn’t a person left standing still. Right as the final portion of the song kicked into high gear, so did the enormous amounts of confetti and streamers shot into the air above the crowd which would rain down for the next 10 minutes. We were still finding confetti in our jackets several hours later. There is some incredible video of the R.E.M cover and “Here Comes the Night Time” courtesy of youtube user stolen roan
Finally it was time for the massive sing along that is “Wake Up.” There is nothing that can prepare you for thousands of people singing along at the top of their lungs to one of the best songs of this generation. By the time it was over it was easy enough to say this was one of the most incredible emotional concert experiences we have had the chance to be a part of, our faces were melted and yet it the smiles on our faces still haven’t worn off. Overall they did a great job of mixing songs from all four of their albums together into an amazing 2-hour setlist.
Remaining North AmericanTour
July 30 ::: Mountain View, CA
August 01 ::: Los Angeles, CA
August 02 ::: Los Angeles, CA
August 05 ::: San Deigo, CA
August 08 ::: Seattle, WA
Squamish Music Festival
August 09 ::: Sauqmish, Canada
August 11 ::: Edmonton, Canada
August 12 ::: Calgary, Canada
August 14 ::: Winnipeg, Canada
August 17 ::: Washington, DC
August 19 ::: Mansfield, MA
August 20 ::: Bangor, ME
August 22 ::: Brooklyn, NY
August 23 ::: Brooklyn, NY
August 24 ::: Brooklyn, NY
August 26 ::: Chicago, IL
August 27 ::: Toronto, Canada
August 30 ::: Montreal, Canada
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