When I was 14, I found an odd album lying around the house. I played it, and within the first few seconds of the opening track I was blown away. I had never heard anything quite like it (but then again I was only 14). I somewhat naively thought that this was what all good contemporary music sounded like, only to be disappointed that this unique sound only belonged to one band, Arcade Fire. I've been a huge fan ever since. However, I only attended my first gig of theirs a few days ago in London's Hyde Park. I was with a friend who had seen them on eight different occasions, and she remarked that all of those concerts were great, with perhaps the exception of Reading. I was beside myself with anticipation and excitement.
The stage was framed with aerial pictures of sprawling American suburbs, and the two screens in the centre spelt "Coming soon : Arcade Fire" in a small-town retro cinema sort of way. And then they arrived, and the crowd roared, and a good night was had. I say 'good' quite deliberately. I was jumping around singing my heart out, but there was a faint nagging feeling that there wasn't much difference between listening to them at home on a laptop than listening to them and seeing them at Hyde Park. There have been complaints that the show was rather quiet, but sound issues aside I was craving that energy and interaction with the crowd as documented in the fantastic film "Miroir Noir". Apart from Regine floating about with tassels in her hands, and Win complaining that the locals wanted to keep the noise down, there wasn't much else going on. Nonetheless it was a great experience, and I'll be sure to attend more concerts in the future, though not for a while judging by Win's farewell: "See you in a couple of years London".
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