October 24, 2011

Arcade Fire at the Bridge School Benefit 2011



Ever since i saw them in Manchester a couple of months back, Arcade Fire have slowly worked their way up the ranks in my list of favourite bands. As good as they are on record, they are a simply band to be experienced live. Last night, they played the first night of Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit concert and it was a cracker of a set.

They played a fully acoustic set of seven songs, tweaking some of them to fit, giving songs like Intervention a softer, emotive feel compared to their usual fist pumping oomph. One of those was Empty Room, and they turned in an absolutely stunning version, slowing it down almost into a country waltz ballad. It was the highlight of the set for me, along with their cover of Helpless, joined by Neil Young himself on stage. Empty Room is at 7:30 on the video above, and Helpless is at 27:00.

2 comments:

charlie said...

i was just thinking about this the other day! would have been there if i was on exchange for this half of the year. and finally you're reviving this space! (:

snoop said...

hahah trying to revive but v lazy. and you will attend many gigs next year! coachella? is that near you