Top 5 Arcade Fire Shows I Saw This Year

Well, it seems that you people never tire of year-end lists, and luckily, I don't either. So to close out the year, I'll be throwing up some spare lists that may or may not interest you, including my EP's of the year, live shows of the year, etc. I promise these will be shorter than my previous lists (some may call them "long-winded", i prefer to think of them as "epic").



I decided to relegate this post to Saturday, because it's kind of lame. However, before I post my top live shows of the year (probably sometime next week), I thought I should definitely get the Arcade Fire shows out of the way, because they could easily occupy the top 5 slots. So here it goes, the "Top 5 Arcade Fire Shows I Saw This Year":

5. Zilker Park, Austin, TX. September 25, 2005 (ACL)

All you people that thought the Lollapalooza show was opressively hot, welcome to Texas. It was literally around 105 degrees when the band took the stage. The heat, coupled with the dust and dirt made the conditions absolutely miserable, but the band came through big time.

4. Trees, Dallas, TX, January 22, 2005



This was the show that almost didn't happen. The band's van broke down at some fried catfish joint in Waco on the way up from Austin, but luckily their friends SOUND team came to the rescue and saved the day. Trees was more packed than I think I've ever seen it, and we were treated to an amazing show. One funny note: some audience members stormed the stage at one point, and the band proceeded to "fight" them to the ground. It was so obviously staged, but the local press apparently wasn't aware that the band is notorious for their theatrical shenanigans, and reported that poor venue security tainted an otherwise great show.

3. Grant Park, Chicago, IL, July 24, 2005 (Lollapalooza)



This one was special because it was in front of an enormous audience, by far the largest crowd the band had played to until that point. And because I was jammed near the front of the stage with Dodge, with the spectacular Chicago skyline as our backdrop. Such a memorable show, the highlight being Will Butler. The previous two times I'd seen the band, he was absent, and his prescence definitely made the band's chemistry that much more special.

2. Emo's, Austin, TX, January 21, 2005



The first time I saw the band, and possibly the most memorable. Emo's was packed, and the band did not disappoint. I was absolutely blown away, and this cemented them as one of my favorite bands ever. This show was also my introduction to the band's theatrics, when Win stabbed Regine with his guitar and knocked her off the stage into the bewildered crowd.

1. Stubb's, Austin, TX, September 23, 2005



Absolutely epic show for so many reasons. There were rumors that it would be cancelled due to Hurricane Katrina, but the weather ended up being absolutely perfect at Stubb's that night. I went to the show with a bunch of my favorite people in the world, we got to eat with the band (okay, it was at the table right next to them), The Black Keys opened, and the Arcade Fire absolutely killed it. Possibly the best show I've ever been to.

Also:

I've had tons of request to re-post this mashup of The Knife's and Jose Gonzalez's version of "Heartbeats"...it's not that great (what's with the seagulls and the giggling kids at the end?), so hopefully you guys aren't too disappointed, but here you go:

The Knife + Jose Gonzalez Heartbeats (mashup) mp3