Arcade Fire
Bottom of the Hill
December 8, 2004

Review by Jake Thomas

It’s always nice when the new “it” kids, the “flavor of the month” if you will, totally justify the hype they receive. The Arcade Fire put out the album of the year, and has been hyped to no end about it; could their live show possibly live up to the expectations of the crowd? Well I can’t speak for everyone else, but they certainly met mine. They played a pretty similar to set as the ones that are all over the internet available for download – lots of tracks from the new record, a few old songs, and a cover of the Talking Heads. Speaking of which, in a live setting, they sounded even more like the T-Heads than on the record, but if you’re going to sound like someone that seems like a pretty good choice.

Music aside, it was an amazingly entertaining show – I’ve rarely seen a band that excitable on stage – all 7 of them maintained a frenzy-like state for most of the show. And surprisingly, the crowd was somewhat active as well, much more so than you might expect in our fair city outside of a house party. The place was packed to the gills, and it was as hot as satan’s electric poker, but when the band was playing you didn’t even care – you just sweated and smiled. Between these guys, The Constantines, Broken Social Scene, and their liberal governmental policies, Canada is looking more and more like a smart destination.


Arcade Fire
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