As you may have heard, the merry band of Montrealites known as Arcade Fire, are here for the very first time in Australia. I won’t bother going into details, because frankly, it’s quite pointless. Everything spectacular that you have heard about an Arcade Fire performance is true – I just can’t be bothered adding to the piles of much more coherently-written praise that’s out there already.

What I can do however, is use this equally fitting excerpt from an IMDb.com user review for the 2002 feel good film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, to assist in describing my sentiments:

…invites you to come in and participate in that celebration, rather than leaving you on the outside looking in, as it were, merely as an observer…. seemingly welcomes and passionately embraces all that is good and worthwhile in the world…

jhclues from Salem, Oregon – you hit the nail on the head.

One of the highlights of the night that surprisingly didn’t directly involve the band at all, was the ‘blogger’s stalemate’ that occurred in the theatre’s bar, after the show. A group of us stuck around in hope of catching one of the band’s well-documented impromptu foyer performances, which sadly never came. None of us would leave until we all left together and were certain that there was no performance. This was in fear of only one of us being there to capture the magical moment, which would undoubtedly lead to eternal Youtube glory. It’s a blog eat blog world.

Arcade Fire, Enmore Theatre, 22/01/2008

Setlist
Wake Up
Keep The Car Running
Black Mirror
No Cars Go
Haiti
Black Wave / Bad Vibrations
Neon Bible
Age of Consent (New Order Cover)
Ocean Of Noise
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
The Well And The Lighthouse
Headlights Look Like Diamonds
(Antichrist Television Blues)
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Rebellion (Lies)

Encore
Intervention
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)

NO AFTER SHOW FOYER SHENANIGANS! :(