Canadian legends Arcade Fire celebrated the release of their highly anticipated album, The Suburbs, on August 2nd with a concert at the Mann Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I was lucky enough to be in attendance for a show I’ll never forget.
Opening act Spoon delivered a fairly solid set opening with ‘Black Like Me’ from Ga Ga Ga Ga and closing with ‘Jonathon Fisk’. It was slightly disappointing that the majority of the thousands of fans attending the concert hadn’t even found their seats by the time Spoon’s set was over, yet this is to be somewhat expected when opening for a band such as Arcade Fire, whose iconic image surpasses that of Spoon and most other artists right now.
As soon as Arcade Fire hit the stage the crowd excitedly rose from their seats in anticipation. Opening with ‘Ready to Start’, which is taken from the new album, could have been risky if the crowd hadn’t already been somewhat acquainted to the song, with many fans even belting out the lyrics. The song ending with the ever so fitting phrase “Now I’m ready” which seemed fitting as the band and crowd were definitely ready for what was to come during the rest of the night.
Following with ‘Neighborhood #2′ from Funeral and ‘No Cars Go’ from Neon Bible, the band then moved on to an amazing, standout performance of ‘Haiti,’ fronted by Régine Chassagne, who energetically held the stage. As the set progressed Win Butler announced simply “This is a song by Jay Reatard” followed by the band blasting out their rendition of the late Jay Reatard’s song, ‘Oh, It’s Such a Shame’, delivering it in a way which dramatically transformed it into their own.
Returning for an encore the band began with ‘Neighborhood #1 (tunnels)’ followed by ‘Modern Man’ from The Suburbs before concluding with the most breathtaking performance of the night ‘Wake Up’. As the classic anthem began the reaction of the crowd was astounding, all those in attendance began belting out the lyrics and dancing along with the band, making for absolutely breathtaking atmosphere. It was a truly moving, powerful performance which proved the band had surpassed all expectations, delivering what may have been the perfect live performance from a band truly reaching their prime.
