Arcade Fire
5.30.07
Night #2 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles
Grade: B+

It must be a good feeling for the Arcade Fire to return to Los Angeles and play two sold-out nights at the Greek Theatre which seats over six-thousand people considering their last Los Angeles show was at the small and intimate Troubadour located in West Hollywood. Outside the theatre was parked a large touring bus which is quite an improvement from the last time they were here when they drove a white van with a trailer hitched to the back and brakes that only occasionally worked.

The open-air atmosphere with a full-moon above shining down was a perfect setting for the night’s performance. At 9pm the lights went out and a large neon bible was displayed upon a red curtain hanging at the back of the stage. There were five small oval display-screens for images to be projected upon through-out the night as well and two large video displays to the side of the stage for those too far back to see the band members faces.

With Arcade Fire’s second full-length album ‘Neon Bible’ reaching the number two position on the billboard charts the week of its release the band was aware that they were not just out to perform a new album, but also draw from their first full-length album ‘Funeral’ to satisfy all the new fans who missed the band the last time around. The band did not disappoint. The first 40 minutes of the show was primarily dedicated to songs from ‘Neon Bible’ with the exception of ‘Haiti’ from the album ‘Funeral’ and the song ‘No Cars Go’ from their debut E.P. During the performance of ‘My Body Is A Cage’ Win had a cardboard cut-out of his body at the mic with an oval projection screen for his face where it projected his face singing the song. Through-out the night band members moved and ran around the stage and switched instruments and had a grand time. The audience cheered enthusiastically to every song and they were entertained by Win’s story that one of the benefits of being in a “modern day successful rock band” is that you can attend ‘The Price Is Right’ of which at least one of the band members did and he proudly displayed his name-tag from the show.

After about 40 minutes of playing the band started pulling out their songs from the ‘Funeral’ album and performed such stand-out tracks as Neighborhood 2 (Laika), Neighborhood 1 (Tunnels), Neighborhood 3 (Power Out) and closed out the set with Rebellion (Lies) where Win jumped down into the audience and sang with some fans before trekking his way all the way to the very back of the theater to great the fans who sat in the bench seating. During his walk the rest of the band left the stage to later return as Win was making his way down to which another member of the band spoke into the mic, “Win Butler, come on down! You’re the next contestant on The Price Is Right”. The audience cheered enthusiastically. The encore consisted of two songs and the show closer was ‘Wake Up’. The band played for a total of an hour and a half. At the end the audience made its way out of the venue into the hills and trees where their cars were parked and slowly made their return to the bright lights of the city below.