Arcade Fire Live @ Hyde Park, 30th June 2011

Arcade Fire’s meteoric rise from quaint indie rock band to full-blown superstars always had an air of inevitability about it. Their debut album, Funeral, was mind-blowingly good. The Canadian band then released their follow up album, Neon Bible, and once again created a phenomenal album, full of truly epic rock anthems.

Yet whilst Arcade Fire swiftly built a strong cult following and critics poured praise all over their first two albums, they still remained relatively unknown. Third album, The Suburbs - yet another world class album from Arcade Fire - won Album of the Year at the 2011 Grammy Awards and two BRIT Awards, yet still had some people asking “Who Are Arcade Fire?”.

However, Arcade Fire’s Grammy win did bring them more attention and secured them a headline slot at Hyde Park, a gig that often provides a launch pad for bands to move from a big band to a massive one. Before the seven piece from Canada took to the stage there were stellar support slots from Arcade Fire contributor Owen Pallet, The Vaccines, Beirut and Mumford & Sons.


It is a testament to the rise of Arcade Fire that they were headlining such a strong supporting cast. Mumford & Sons in particular created a great atmosphere with their rousing folk music greeted with universal acclaim. Finally, it was time for the headline act to Arcade Fire kicked off the show in the only way they know how, with the phenomenal driving beat of ‘Ready To Start’ kicking in and sending the crowd into a frenzy.



With the crowd already pumped up, Win welcomed the crowd and introduced the next song, “We wanted to play this one while we could still see you”. Cue bedlam as the crunching guitars of ‘Wake Up’ were sent booming out of Hyde Park speakers, and that huge chorus was belted out by the fifty-odd thousand in attendance. It was a surprise - one that was well-received - but it was still slightly too early in the set for such an epic song.



Yet the atmosphere didn’t stall after what is usually a climatic song, as the driving beat of ‘No Cars Go’ quickly followed. There was then another special treat with the beautiful ‘Haiti’, sung by Régine Chassagne, completing a flawless four songs to start the biggest set of Arcade Fire’s career. Actually, make that five songs of pure class, with the huge organ of ‘Intervention’ kicking in and sending the crowd into another mad frenzy.

After bombarding the start of their set with big hit after big hit, Arcade Fire played a newbie from The Suburbs, the haunting, green-lit ‘Rococo’, and a debut live performance of ‘Speaking In Tongues’ - which the band recorded especially for Spike Jonze’s short film, Scenes From The Suburbs. The Canadian band then played a classic from their debut album, ‘Crown Of Love’, an emotional slow number which caused the whole crowd to belt back the beautiful chorus: “If you still want me, please forgive me, the crown of love is fallen from me”, before the song reached its soaring conclusion with the violins and piano reverberating around Hyde Park in full force. This was followed perfectly by the piano-laden debut single from the band’s third album, the self-titled ‘The Suburbs’, which was joined by the punk rock track ‘Month Of May’. Arcade Fire were clearly enjoying themselves on stage - as they usually do - and they followed up tracks from The Suburbs with a return to their nailed-on classics, including ‘Rebellion (Lies)’ and the masterpiece ‘Neighborhood #2 (Laika)’.



Arcade Fire were now in overdrive, with the first UK single from The Suburbs, ‘We Used To Wait’, and the monstrous ‘Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)’ leaving the crowd in desperate need of a breather as the band duly took a break. With Arcade’s Fire’s biggest performance nearing an end, they returned for the encore obviously determined to go out with a bang. And what a bang it was, kicking off with momentous ‘Keep The Car Running’, before following up with ‘Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)’ and the stunning closer, ‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)’, which whilst not possessing the thunderous finish of ‘Wake Up’, still left the crowd appreciating one of the best bands on the planet.



Whilst their were some complaints about the sound levels during Arcade fire’s set - a problem caused by the easily ruffled residents that surround Hyde Park - it was a fantastic gig. Arcade Fire are a band who not only make incredible music, but also have a love for performing that is infectious to all that see them. They truly are a unique band, who are very quickly establishing themselves as world class.