Deep in Central Washington, beyond miles of desolate countries roads lies a giant hole in the ground designed for music and nature lovers alike. The Gorge is set on the Columbia River among a seemingly fake backdrop of cliffs and water. Here, I saw Arcade Fire perform as they passed through on their Reflektor tour.
A dress code of “formal attire / costume” was not strictly enforced, but was encouraged by the band, making the pre-show people watching a highlight of the night’s entertainment. As far as demographics go, there were little trends in the types of people attending. A blend of young hipsters, drugged out costume wearers, sophisticated 30-somethings who probably have real jobs, young families, and everyone in between spread themselves out upon the steep lawn, leaving an awkward and generous amount of space between one another. The Gorge, while beautiful, was an odd venue for a band like Arcade Fire. From my faraway seat on the lawn, I felt as though I was watching people watch a concert instead of feeling a part of the magic. Not to mention, Arcade Fire is apparently too cool for mainstream jumbotrons, so the only video projections they had were artsy and overlayed with others from their music videos, which didn’t help a whole lot.
The Antlers began the show, outfitted in matching white dress shirts, skinny black ties and face masks. Their dream pop sound was beautiful and ambient, but a little too downtempo, therefore lulling us into sleep rather than pumping us up for the night ahead. Lead singer Peter Silberman had a lovely sound, reminding me of Jeff Buckley back from the dead. Instrumentals were pretty and dissonant but redundant.
On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Dan Deacon was a blast of stimulating, annoying noise. If we compare The Antlers to edible pot brownies, then Dan Deacon was crack cocaine with a side of Red Bull. It sounded like somebody pushed the fast forward button on a 1980s videogame soundtrack with power synth influences. While his music was a little jarring, Dan Deacon actually seemed like a pretty funny guy and had a completely unique stage presence. He organized a dance competition, a synchronized interpretive dance led by audience members, and told awkward quirky jokes in Demitri Martin kind of way.
What these opening groups really needed was a middle ground. It was a relief when Arcade Fire began with their perfectly balanced high energy and dark, slow undertones.
Ironically, Arcade Fire’s set was made up of relatively few songs from their latest album, “Reflektor”, and instead was more of a hodgepodge of their popular songs, many of them from critically acclaimed “The Suburbs”. While I thoroughly enjoyed “Reflektor”, the general consensus among music critics was quite different. In contrast, “The Suburbs” is still regarded by many as Arcade Fire’s best album so far. While the members of Arcade Fire may be anti-society, they still probably read newspapers and know what their fans want to hear.
Title track “Reflektor” opened the show, of course. From the center of a pit rose a platform with a man in body suit covered in reflective chunks. Married couple Win Butler and Regine Chassange led their full bodied band with wild charisma and almost startling passion. The following song, “Flashbulb Eyes” incorporated an orchestrated lights show mimicking the flash of a camera. Otherwise, most of their visuals had infinite and circular themes, growing off of the motif of a never ending reflective mirror. Song changes, even tracks from different albums, were logistically complex but quick. One of the best executed songs was “Rococo”, which was bookended by an intro and outro of Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen Spirit” and fit perfectly both musically and thematically with their images of naïve and apathetic youth.
Continuing to play from “The Suburbs”, “Ready to Start” and “The Suburbs” followed and were amazingly climatic. Butler then made a plug for Project Haiti, a charity dedicated to building a LEED-certified orphanage in the country after its hurricane devastation, and explained how one dollar from every ticket sale would go directly to the organization.
Several songs were played before they returned to “Reflektor” by performing and extended version of “We Exist”. “No Cars Go” was one of the only songs they played from their debut album, “Neon Bible”. This transitioned into “Une Annee Sans Lumerie”, giving Chassange a chance to dance wildly with sass and show off her scream-y passion.
There were a few points during the show where they tried a little too hard. Chanssange running around with rainbow-lit ribbons was a bit of a stretch. When the bongo guy wasn’t playing the bongos, he seemed to be the hype man, and his attempt to pump everyone up was unnecessary and forced. I am most disappointed that the very best Arcade Fire song ever made (in my opinion), “My Body is a Cage” was cut short and never reached its drop, which is the whole reason it’s awesome. Instead it was used as an intro to “We Used to Wait”. I was let down.
The final few songs were very, very good and perfectly bizarre. During “Afterlife”, the reflective man came back out and did his creepy ominous thing, which was pretty cool. A man dressed as a skeleton then took over the platform with Chassange, hovering around her like death over her shoulder. “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” was incredible – the whole production had so much energy and the stage became completely black every time Chassange repeated the lyric: “I need the darkness / Someone please cut the lights”.
Arcade Fire were just about everything I’d hoped them to be: dramatic, huge, full of complicated symbolism and beyond hip.
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GROOVE. 