Arcade Fire, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland

Fusing numerous rhythms and styles, indie and arena rock blend to form one of the most critically and commercially successful indie bands of the past decade

After moving some mountains to make sure that I could get to the show, I was gritty as a schoolboy for the Arcade Fire show. After becoming a huge fan of their work following their first two albums, I made it a priority to see their show at Merriweather Post Pavilion, making sure that I had a ticket for the pit up front. I squeezed towards the back middle section of the pit with my heals almost against the back wall.

The lights went down as Arcade Fire, biggest and most successful indie rock bands of the decade, both commercially and critically, shuffled onstage. At the head of the music collective included tall and broad-shouldered frontman Win Butler, his spontaneous bassist brother Will, and Win’s tiny wife, Canadian-Haitian Régine Chassagne, at least five other multi-instrumentalists with a more subtle public images taking at points during the show would take up drums, horns, strings, or synthesizers.

The show was a nice mix of epic older favorites intercut with selections from their newest album, The Suburbs, which was officially released only a few days prior to the show. As with previous albums about death (Funeral) and disillusionment (Neon Bible), The Suburbs recalls Win and Will’s childhood in suburban Houston, even if at times recalls some depressing memories. Nonetheless, their catalog that blends numerous rhythms and styles translates very well to the stage, keeping an indie rock feel but incorporating elements of arena rock to get the crowd dancing.

Despite abandoning “Half Light II (No Celebration)” around the one minute mark due to a faulty drum machine, the set was solid and the band was on. Though I had already listened to their new album a dozen times that week and their older works countless times over, the songs took on a new life when played in front of the audience. Though my favorite songs retained their positions (“No Cars Go,” “Intervention,” “Rebellion (Lies),” “Keep the Car Running”), I found a new appreciation of several others (“Wake Up,” “Month of May,” “Modern Man”). Katie enjoyed the show as well, but the highlight for her was the mention that some of the proceeds for the evening would go to some non-profit group to support Haiti.

I was tired and sweaty by the end of the show but thrilled to cross of the #2 band on my bucket list.

Setlist:

Ready to Start

Month of May

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)

The Well and the Lighthouse

Half Light II (No Celebration)

Neighborhood #2 (Laika)

No Cars Go

Haïti

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

The Suburbs

The Suburbs (Continued)

Modern Man

Rococo

Intervention

We Used to Wait

Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)

Rebellion (Lies)

Encore:

Keep the Car Running

Wake Up