Coming off the back of a massive Malahide Castle gig last summer, and a secret single launch in Whelan’s on the same night, Arcade Fire’s return to Dublin was always going to be special. Even with their fifth album, Everything Now, getting the sort of lukewarm reviews that the band isn’t used to seeing, Arcade Fire still hold the title of being the most enjoyable live act in the world.
Now, it seems, they’re out to defend that title. Entering a boxing ring-themed, in-the-round stage like defending champions, the spectacle of Arcade Fire – complete with dazzling lights show and an arsenal of instruments – strikes you before the music does (although rest assured, they deliver all that over a 20 song, 2 hour set). As they lead into ‘Everything Now’, each member faces out from a different part of the ring/stage and moves about as they play and sing. They’re literally everywhere at once, interchanging instruments and taking the lead from each other. This is how Everything Now works as a stage production.
The opening section of the concert sees the thumping, rousing energy of ‘Rebellion (Lies)’ meet the Caribbean-tinted ‘Here Comes The Night Time’, followed by the accordion-led ‘No Cars Go’. It’s a good move – a fine start. These are building numbers which allow the audience to sing-along and the band to get right into their groove. When Win and Regine shout “Hey! Us kids know/No cars go!’, you’re thrown from your seat right to the first time you ever heard that song and nodded passionately in agreement.
The rest of the set is a melting pot of tracks from throughout their career – some obvious, some entirely unexpected. ‘Headlights Look Like Diamonds’ takes us all the way back 2003’s Arcade Fire EP (so old that when I check the cover out it looks like it was done on Microsoft Paint), while ‘My Body Is A Cage’ takes precedent over any of the other singles from their second album, Neon Bible.
But the band are at their absolute best when they’re either; throwing the kitchen sink at things (‘Power’s Out’ and ‘Tunnels’); letting Regine Chassagne’s voice take centre stage (‘Sprawl’ and ‘Electric Blue’); or basking in Win Butler and Regine’s personal chemistry (‘The Suburbs’ and ‘Reflector’).
The encore begins with the odd choice of ‘We Don’t Deserve Love’, but this makes sense by the end, when Win does a wonderful outro of The Cranberries’ ‘Linger’. Nice touch. After this, everyone is on hand to belt out ‘Wake Up’ at the top of their lungs. The band are practically carried out, to another chorus of ‘Everything Now’, whenever they finally leave the stage.