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| Arcade Fire's Win Butler @ Bill Graham Civic (Photo: Kate Haley) |
Arcade Fire is touring in support of their album, We, released in May of this year. It was recorded outside El Paso, Texas, where the Montreal musicians were on lockdown together during Covid-19. The songs translated beautifully to the stage tonight, as they moved from the microcosm of the studio into a sea of fans at Bill Graham Civic auditorium in San Francisco.
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| Regine Chassagne of Arcade Fire @ Bill Graham Civic (Photo: Kate Haley) |
Win Butler, Regine Chassagne, Richard Reed Perry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Garcia, the core members of the band, have been touring with Sarah Neufeld, Paul Beaubrun, Dan Boeckner and Eric Heigle. One of the things that is so remarkable about this band is how all musicians are multi-instrumentalists, bringing a cacophony of sounds including a hurdy gurdy, celestra, recorder, djembe and accordion to the standard guitars, bass, percussion and keyboards, lending what is sometimes a whimsical feel to their work.
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| Arcade Fire @ Bill Graham Civic (Photo: Kate Haley) |
The band was in fine form tonight, racing up and down the stage with Win Butler, the band’s front man, jumping off his elevated platform to rush out into the crowd. It all had a party feel and the crowd was delighted. In total the band played twenty-one spirited songs, in addition to Scott Makenzie’s song “San Francisco (be sure to wear flowers in your hair)” from tape, closing with a dynamic three song encore culminating in “Wake Up”.
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| Win Butler of Arcade Fire @ Bill Graham Civic (Photo: Kate Haley) |
Butler has been under scrutiny after the sexual misconduct allegations published three days before We was released. His official statement and witness accounts can be reviewed here.
There is a final North American stop in Seattle coming up next. See the full setlist from Arcade Fire’s show below.
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