With their third album coming out soon, the Arcade Fire has hit the road again, having played a total of three shows between the 6th and the 8th (one of which was a secret, invite-only show) in Sherbrooke, QC – a smaller town two hours from Montreal, where most of the band originally called home. Drawing a crowd of 1200 people, the band did not disappoint audience members when they decided to stick to a playlist consisting of eight tracks from their first two albums and seven brand new tracks off of The Suburbs.
Although The Suburbs has not yet been released, titles and reviews of the new tracks that will be found on the album have been released through The Montreal Gazette‘s review of concert as a whole. Based on what has been said in the article, the soon to be released songs seem promising. After opening with “Month of May,” the band then played new track “Ready To Start” which was explained by The Gazette to be “a new-wavey dance ditty, seemingly about shedding the past and jumping into the now.” “We Used To Wait” is another new track that was played and described to be “a charged rocker about ‘how our lives are changing fast’.” “Rococo was a spooky standout, the spiteful lyrics ‘Let’s go downtown and watch the modern kids,’ offset by the almost yodelling chorus”. Although the article does not list all eight new tracks, it also mentions “Modern Man” as being the title of another one that was played at the show.
Although not able to personally attend one of the concerts, I was once lucky enough to see Arcade Fire play in their hometown of Montreal, Quebec and therefore know how grateful the band is for their fanbase around that area – apparently something that (unlike their newer sound) has not yet changed. As The Montreal Gazette reported, “they were enjoying themselves on stage last night — and well they should have been”; with a homecoming party the size of the mob of fans that showed up to the concert, it’s hard to argue with that. According to this article, the band is still able to present the audience with something they are remarkably good at achieving: balance. In their past albums, the band has managed to demonstrate a balance between two extremes: good and evil, young and old, dark and light, etc. Regardless of what they are balancing, The Gazette reports that through their new stuff, Arcade Fire are apparently “more able than ever to blur the lines.”
Sherbrooke got lucky; as posted previously on the site, Arcade Fire’s North American tour stops are not scheduled to begin until July 12th, in Quebec City, QC. Even though they are not for a few more months, if this article rings true regarding their new stuff, the shows are something Canadian and American fans should definitely be anticipating already.
[Via The Montreal Gazette]
