I am seeing my absolute favorite band of all time, Arcade Fire, on October 2nd at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, California. In the manner of Chandler Bing...
could I be more excited?? I cannot even begin to express my love for this band, which spawned so many years ago, although it feels like just yesterday I listened to their album Funeral for the first time. I can safely say that it is the first album that I genuinely immersed myself into, and fell utterly and completely in love with. Within my art portfolio you can find a creation piece that I made that consists solely of references to this album, and I will have you know that I have completely art directed a film to every track of Funeral, sequentially, in my mind on multiple occasions. Needless to say, I am somewhat obsessed. Up until I discovered them, if someone asked me what my favorite band was, I could come up with no good answer. That's changed, thanks largely in part due to married couple Win Butler and Regine Chassagne, the both of whom possess two of the most haunting, beautiful, emotional, and raw voices of today, and the latter who taught me some of the only French I know, which is still close to none, but hey, at least it's pretty and lyrical.
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Their new album "The Suburbs" came out recently, and to kick off their tour, they performed at Madison Square Garden through a live feed via Youtube directed by Terry Gilliam, and can I just say that I have heard only great things about their live performances, but witnessing their energy on stage, if only through my computer screen, was enough to motivate me to see them when the next opportunity came. I know that my mom always wanted to see Michael Jackson in concert, but never got the chance due to sudden, tragic reasons that I'm sure we're all aware of. In life, you can really never know what to expect, so I figured that anything could happen, and this could be their last tour, and I just need to revel in their music genius one time before I die. It'll be an intimate experience, especially for someone like me who has been a fan for so long and has been genuinely impacted by their message and sound.
Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
This has been a rant, but I urge anyone reading this to check out this marvelous band whose music I hold so dear to my heart. They have yet to release a bad album, so any of their songs are safe to listen to, but as for suggestions aside from the songs posted, I would recommend listening to "Wake Up" (a song that I think most have heard and enjoyed), "Haiti" (one of their most underrated tracks, personally one of my favorites), "Neighborhood #3," "Ocean of Noise," and "Modern Man."
