Arcade Fire, United Center, Chicago, Illinois

A Tuesday night at the United Center would be my fourth time seeing Montreal-based Arcade Fire after shows at Merriweather Post Pavilion, Jazz Fest, and Bonnaroo. The band had requested that audience members wear formal attire or costumes. While some did, I was a bit disappointed that there were not more. I wore a tuxedo; Lindsey wore a formal dress. We also had small colored masks. It was a good excuse for my seldom worn tux to escape the closet.

We arrived during Devo, the first opening act. While I enjoyed what I saw, I later saw online that they played their iconic song “Whip It” toward the beginning of their set prior to our arrival. Baltimore’s own Dan Deacon also did a short set on a second makeshift stage toward the back of the floor. He requested attendees on the floor to make a huge circle and invited a couple dressed as frogs to start of his dance party. From our vantage point down low on the left side, we could see that there was a massive undertaking behind the curtain. Devo had lots to take down, especially for an opener, and Arcade Fire had even more to set up.

Arcade Fire took the stage via a parade through the audience, from the back of the venue to the stage, invoking confetti canons to open their set. They used an elaborate set up including up to 13 musicians on stage on a variety of instruments. Their setlist utilized songs from all four albums, as well as visual elements from Haitian Creole culture, which heavily influenced the writing and recording of their most recent album, Reflektor. To that end, in many ways the show seemed like an evening of Haitian Carnival.

Their show also featured several side acts performing at the back of the venue throughout the show. This included a set of “regular dancers,” a man in a disco ball suit, and four flamboyant men dancing in skirts and heels during the song “We Exist,” a song calling for LGBT equality. Also making an appearance in the back of the venue were “The Reflectors,” the large-fake-headed alter ego band sharing their name with Arcade Fire’s most recent album title. Stand-ins for The Reflektors also joined the band on stage for the encore. Some of the band members put on costumes as well. Frontman Win Butler performed several songs wearing a skeleton mask while balloons fell on the audience to end the show.

Setlist:
Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)
Here Comes the Night Time
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Joan of Arc [Restart after technical problems. Stripped and shortened 'My Body Is a Cage' while fixed]
Month of May
The Suburbs
The Suburbs (Continued)
Ready to Start
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
We Exist
Reflektor
Keep the Car Running
No Cars Go
Haïti
Afterlife
It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus)
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) [Damian Taylor Remix' intro]
Encore:
I'm Bad [Bo Diddley cover]
Who Do You Love? [Bo Diddley cover]
Normal Person
Rebellion (Lies)
Wake Up