Arcade Fire at Red Rocks

Started: 2007-10-09 21:48:06

Submitted: 2007-10-09 22:30:19

Visibility: World-readable

After work on Monday, 17 September, I drove to Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison to watch Arcade Fire live. LCD Soundsystem opened; I might have gotten more out of their set if I had actually heard any of their songs before (or if there wasn't a probably-intoxicated guy dancing immediately in front of me). After several songs, LCD Soundsystem's frontman complained about the altitude: "I sing a long note and I feel like I'm going to pass out." (It occurred to me that the majority of the audience simply has more red blood cells than he does, since we live at altitude.)

Arcade Fire took the stage after dark, surrounded by TVs mounted on poles around the stage and vertical luminescent strips along the front of the stage. As they played, they projected images of themselves on the rock wall behind the stage alternating with vaguely-creepy black-and-white footage of what looked like groups of women floating in dark water. The smaller TVs showed an animated Neon Bible opening and switched to stylized images of the band. The presentation was great, and the music was fantastic; Win Butler and his cohorts were energetic on stage. Régine Chassagne run around the stage, switching instruments in the middle of songs. After hearing the music live, the recorded version seems boring, but Neon Bible is still high on my list for best music of 2007.