Mark your calendars / Arcade Fire

Originally posted by friarfunk:
… and new songs titled "Intervention" (which was fantastic) and "Burning Bridges." [/QB]

Yep…was great to see that the new stuff is up to the quality of what we've already heard.

They definitely did not disappoint last night. I saw them at dinner before the show and told them how excited I was to see them. Of course, I'm probably the 1,000 person to tell them this on their tour…..

easily the best show I have seen at 9:30 in my limited amount of time here. Also made the crowd from the Saturday night show look like tailgaters at some college football game when you consider that last night you could sense that the crowd was holding its collective breath so that they could hear every note. Great show.

I'm still amazed at how quiet the crowd was. That, combined with the "no smoking" rule, made for quite the pleasant evening.

Terrific show from start to finish. Their CD does not do them justice. Outstanding live band.

I wondered why it was so non-smoky! was that a band request?

great show, a musical collective in the truest sense - I think everyone must have played about 3 different instruments by nights end

maybe its because it was a school night, maybe its just DC, but yes the crowd were very 'polite', and I think the band were being polite by calling us polite

things livened up a little following the admonition however and the last song was amazing

thanks again to tbmtt and chimbley for the ticket

Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
I'm still amazed at how quiet the crowd was. That, combined with the "no smoking" rule, made for quite the pleasant evening.

anyone else go to saint-ex afterwards?

you didn't miss anything special. napoleon dynamite-looking dude and the drummer (i think) showed up with their laptop and made some song selections. started off with an aphex twin song…and it devolved into a random 80s set (cure, smiths, prince, michael jackson).

surprisingly enough, it wasn't too crowded either.

that encore at the show was excellent ("the backseat" was probably my favorite performance of the night).

Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
I'm still amazed at how quiet the crowd was. That, combined with the "no smoking" rule, made for quite the pleasant evening.

Terrific show from start to finish. Their CD does not do them justice. Outstanding live band.

I agree with all points. We were stunned by the quiet as well.

And, I hadn't noticed the "no smoking" signs on the doors coming in, and a guy near me lit a cigarette and before his first puff was complete, a staff person was on him like a bee on honey saying (quite sternly, in my opinion, as it is after all a divergence from the club's normal policy), "Put that out. Put that out NOW." At first I thought the guy must have lit up a doobie! ;) Makes for an awfully pleasant night….

great show … not exactly a transcendent experience, but i had high hopes … definitely worth the scalped price i paid … feedback kinda sucked a few times, but i guess that's hard to avoid when you have two dozen people on the stage …

i agree about the crowd, it was QUIET, especially between songs, people started pogoing around towards the end of the set though … no smoking was very strange, i didn't see the signs, so i walked in and lit up, like i usually do, and suddenly saw this bouncer barrelling towards me, grabbing my arm and telling me to "put that shit out" … i told him it was a cigarette, not a joint, but that didn't go over too well …

the backbar was like a smoking lounge at an airport, i think i inhaled a pack while i was down there in between sets to smoke …

opener was final fantasy (i.e., some canadian dude named owen), who was alright, but really gimmicky and he got old quiiick for me … kind of like an indie howie day with a violin instead of a guitar … started every song by playing and recording the backing tracks, then looped them throughout the song with his foot pedals … songs kinda sucked …

bags, that was probably me (although i'm sure that same scene was replayed dozens of times throughout the night) … i had my columbia heights t-shirt on …

another note, the show really reminded me of the broken social scene show at black cat last year, not really the music, but the whole canadian-ness of it and the dozen or so people on the stage (with the opener playing with the headliner)

Originally posted by SalParadise:
anyone else go to saint-ex afterwards?

you didn't miss anything special. napoleon dynamite-looking dude and the drummer (i think) showed up with their laptop and made some song selections. started off with an aphex twin song…and it devolved into a random 80s set (cure, smiths, prince, michael jackson).

surprisingly enough, it wasn't too crowded either.

that encore at the show was excellent ("the backseat" was probably my favorite performance of the night).

i was there too…we actually got a couple of the last seats in the place thanx to k8teebug who drove us at saintex right after the show. :D it took them forever to show up…wasn't it like 12:45 before they took over the dj booth? i was happy to hear the aphex twin, but didn't stay too long after that. i really wished it had been on saturday instead of a work night.

i thought their performance was excellent…Laika was totally schizophrenic and showcased the band's energy perfectly…band members in motorcycle helmets drumming on the monitors and climbing from the stage to the balcony. just amazing.

and what's with those f'ckers in the audience shouting for them to play talking heads songs? jesus christ man…the freebird thing at shows is bad enough but since when is it cool to go to a show and yell at the band to play someone else's music?

I also thought it was cool that they climbed up to the balcony and then jumped. Although I'm suprised they didn't break their ankles….
Aside from the 12 dollar dc cab ride that should've been 4, it was a terrific evening.

I think they were probably alluding to Talking Heads being an influence on Arcade Fire. Not like their music is that original.

Originally posted by joz:

Originally posted by SalParadise:
anyone else go to saint-ex afterwards?

you didn't miss anything special. napoleon dynamite-looking dude and the drummer (i think) showed up with their laptop and made some song selections. started off with an aphex twin song…and it devolved into a random 80s set (cure, smiths, prince, michael jackson).

surprisingly enough, it wasn't too crowded either.

that encore at the show was excellent ("the backseat" was probably my favorite performance of the night).

i was there too…we actually got a couple of the last seats in the place thanx to k8teebug who drove us at saintex right after the show. :D it took them forever to show up…wasn't it like 12:45 before they took over the dj booth? i was happy to hear the aphex twin, but didn't stay too long after that. i really wished it had been on saturday instead of a work night.

i thought their performance was excellent…Laika was totally schizophrenic and showcased the band's energy perfectly…band members in motorcycle helmets drumming on the monitors and climbing from the stage to the balcony. just amazing.

and what's with those f'ckers in the audience shouting for them to play talking heads songs? jesus christ man…the freebird thing at shows is bad enough but since when is it cool to go to a show and yell at the band to play someone else's music?

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
I think they were probably alluding to Talking Heads being an influence on Arcade Fire. Not like their music is that original.

Originally posted by joz:

Originally posted by SalParadise:
anyone else go to saint-ex afterwards?

you didn't miss anything special. napoleon dynamite-looking dude and the drummer (i think) showed up with their laptop and made some song selections. started off with an aphex twin song…and it devolved into a random 80s set (cure, smiths, prince, michael jackson).

surprisingly enough, it wasn't too crowded either.

that encore at the show was excellent ("the backseat" was probably my favorite performance of the night).

i was there too…we actually got a couple of the last seats in the place thanx to k8teebug who drove us at saintex right after the show. :D it took them forever to show up…wasn't it like 12:45 before they took over the dj booth? i was happy to hear the aphex twin, but didn't stay too long after that. i really wished it had been on saturday instead of a work night.

i thought their performance was excellent…Laika was totally schizophrenic and showcased the band's energy perfectly…band members in motorcycle helmets drumming on the monitors and climbing from the stage to the balcony. just amazing.

and what's with those f'ckers in the audience shouting for them to play talking heads songs? jesus christ man…the freebird thing at shows is bad enough but since when is it cool to go to a show and yell at the band to play someone else's music?

i think they used to perform "this must be the place (naive melody)" in their shows.

they played talking heads at saint-ex.

brennser, you think it was worth the painting labor? it was cool bumping into you.

rhett must be feeling fiesty today…although they do hold a resemblence to the talking heads (mainly because of win's david byrne-like vocals), what band isn't derivative of someone else? pick any band and you can come up with their closest predecessor. it's musical evolution…all bands/musicians fit somewhere on the web and can be linked to others before and after.

so, the arcade fire made the mistake of including a talking heads cover in their setlist at every live show. people expect it now and they potentially reinforced the associations to them. so what tho? perhaps they wanted to pay homage to a band from which they get their inspiration. still doesn't make sense that people would pay to see the arcade fire but would rather see them play a talking heads song. it's like going to see celine dion and shouting for her to sing gypsies tramps and theives.

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
… no smoking was very strange, i didn't see the signs, so i walked in and lit up, like i usually do, and suddenly saw this bouncer barrelling towards me, grabbing my arm and telling me to "put that shit out" … i told him it was a cigarette, not a joint, but that didn't go over too well …

Yeah, staff reaction to and handling of smoking was a tad inappropriate – I've been to the club over 100 times, so I'd assume I'd be able to smoke – it was a DIVERGENCE from policy, most people probably just needed to be told, not intimidated.

Wow, this is maybe the first time I've had a complaint about 9:30 Club staff.

I didn't realize Arcade Fire did a Talking Heads cover.

Originally posted by Bags:

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
… no smoking was very strange, i didn't see the signs, so i walked in and lit up, like i usually do, and suddenly saw this bouncer barrelling towards me, grabbing my arm and telling me to "put that shit out" … i told him it was a cigarette, not a joint, but that didn't go over too well …

Yeah, staff reaction to and handling of smoking was a tad inappropriate – I've been to the club over 100 times, so I'd assume I'd be able to smoke – it was a DIVERGENCE from policy, most people probably just needed to be told, not intimidated.

Wow, this is maybe the first time I've had a complaint about 9:30 Club staff.

i'm on it.

Originally posted by thatguy:

Originally posted by Bags:

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
… no smoking was very strange, i didn't see the signs, so i walked in and lit up, like i usually do, and suddenly saw this bouncer barrelling towards me, grabbing my arm and telling me to "put that shit out" … i told him it was a cigarette, not a joint, but that didn't go over too well …

Yeah, staff reaction to and handling of smoking was a tad inappropriate – I've been to the club over 100 times, so I'd assume I'd be able to smoke – it was a DIVERGENCE from policy, most people probably just needed to be told, not intimidated.

Wow, this is maybe the first time I've had a complaint about 9:30 Club staff.

i'm on it.

thatguy … it really wasn't that big of a deal, the bouncer (kinda looked like andrew wk, stringy long black hair) was just on a powertrip, happens all the time …

Originally posted by joz:
and what's with those f'ckers in the audience shouting for them to play talking heads songs? jesus christ man…the freebird thing at shows is bad enough but since when is it cool to go to a show and yell at the band to play someone else's music?

This must be the place from Boston (halfway down the page).

They played it in SF as well and have been known to do others.

Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
That, combined with the "no smoking" rule, made for quite the pleasant evening.

Welcome to California over 10 years ago.