Toasty: Grammy-winning Arcade Fire fires up hot Pavilion
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Twenty minutes after the 6pm gate opening, fans still stretched past new eatery Positively Fourth Street-- shown here-- and nearly to Central Place.Tom Daly -
With temperatures still topping 95 degrees at 6pm on Wednesday evening, cool-seeking concertgoers made their way through a misting tent.Tom Daly -
Under the tent and steaming: some concertgoers lined up as early as 11am to ensure a front-row spot for the sold-out show.Tom Daly -
Taking the stage just before 9pm, the band opened with "Ready to Start," off their Grammy winning album The Suburbs.Tom Daly -
Lead singer Win Butler expressed appreciation for the crowd. The band performed at Bonnaroo the following night.Tom Daly -
Accordion-playing multi-instrumentalist Regine Chassagne co-founded the band with husband Butler.Tom Daly
Last year this time, you might have had a hard time finding anyone who'd heard of Arcade Fire. Their third album, The Suburbs, which was released last year, changed all that in February by winning the Grammy for Album of the Year. On Wednesday June 8, in spite of soaring heat and miserable humidity, a sold-out crowd packed the nTelos Wireless Pavilion to hear the band perform.
Read more on: Arcade Fire
15 comments
Anyone who hadn't heard of Arcade Fire at this time last year shouldn't have even been at this show. People in Charlottesville seem to have a hard time discovering anything that isn't shoved down their throat on TV/radio.
RJ yer totally right. Charlottesville is only impressed with itself.
@ RJ
Just curious, but what is your reason for why anybody who had not heard of Arcade Fire by June of 2010 should therefore, not attend the show in June of 2011? Any reason for why only fans that go back longer than one year? Who makes the rules about who "should" and "shouldn't" be allowed to attend a concert? (I love pompous hipsters who think that the fans who have been around since the beginning, before a band was ever known or signed, should be considered the only REAL fans and the only ones who should be ALLOWED to go to their concerts. ;) God forbid any newbies who've been fans for "only" eight, nine, ten months or something.)
@ Dude Solo - Ironically, RJ comes across as the one who's impressed with him/herself only because of their self made "rules" about who "should" and "shouldn't" be allowed to attend an event.
I myself hadn't heard of this group, ever, until the day of the show, when I did a 'net search to figure out who they even were. But that's just because I no barely follow current music. I was impressed that Cville landed Grammy winners, but....still never heard of these people.
*I barely follow
not
I no barely follow
Engrish!!!!
Curious how many bands RJ likes who he would have to stop listening to if he lived by his own rules. Lame, lame, lame, lame.
RJ let's up the ante...if you haven't heard them in Montreal you shouldn't be allowed in.
And now you're out.
Arcade Fire have been putting out music for almost a decade now. So, yeah, despite these awfully witty retorts, I'm going to stand my by initial statement. Sounds like a lot of people follow the hype instead of finding things on their own, including most of you commenters.
I mean, if it takes a freaking Grammy to make you take notice.. Sad
Gosh RJ, I started listening to them in 2004 while living in Canada. And I can name a lot of other Montreal acts you haven't heard, and that makes me one freakin cool banana; cooler than you. You have no idea the effect that this has on women.
Now if what you really wanted to say is "How many people attended because they really like the music and how many were just there to be part of the Cville nTelaroo buzz?", then that's a much more valid question.
BTW: Rumor has it that the road manager for Arcade Fire was roaming the crowd and asking people if they were true believers or wannabees and sending wannabees home with a ticket refund, because well that's just the kind of band they are. That's why they started late and played a relatively short set. They could sense the presence of the parvenus among them.
This is a weird blurb for a show that was a monumental catch for Cville. I was a late comer to AF since I discovered them when they were on SNL performing to promote Neon Bible. I put them at the top of my list for bands to see live and I was not disappointed. That show was energetic and fun and for all of the love the crowd showed them they'll have to consider coming back. Maybe instead of the posters who are whining they could just provide a better blurb. I don't know who Biff Diggerance is but you seem to believe in conspiracies. I really don't think the road manager was sending people out... They didn't play a short set and considering how hot it was I thought the encore was longer than it could have been. C'ville is nowhere on the concert map so for a band to play a really long show during a heat advisory is crazy talk.
Oh Kosmo please do a week at Camp Tunguin Chic this summer, eh? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Is St Theresa's for the Literal-Minded stopping the daytrip bus in Cville now?
Sorry Kosmo that was unnecessarily snarky; would delete if able to. I was being intentionally absurd in response to a RJ's Holier than Now stance toward anyone who attended the show without having been a devoted acolyte of the band for at least 10 years. Obviously you're a new fan and got a lot more out of the show than RJ did. Good for you. And remember that James Brown blessed Cville with his presence in 2006. It became a large dot on the concert map at that time.
These guys sound boring and their singer reminds me of that ditz from Radiohead.
@ RJ
"Sounds like a lot of people follow the hype instead of finding things on their own, including most of you commenters.
Actually RJ............Nobody posted a comment here for days, maybe even a full week, after this story first appeared until you came along. It sounds to me like you're so used to spouting the script about fake fans who only "follow the hype" that you're spouting it here where it doesn't even apply. Nobody here is following any hype. Nobody here had apparently even heard of these people, which is the exact opposite of following hype. ;D And the only reason any of us are even posting at all is because of your too-cool-for-you hipster belief about what constitutes a true fan. Which is flattering for you, no doubt, that the only reason anybody is even posting in the Arcade Fire story is because of you, and not the grammy winning band that nobody's even heard of. So, give yourself a pat on the back for instigating discussion where none would exist! ;)
Clarifier - actually two people posting here have apparently heard of Arcade Fire, one of whom trumps RJ in terms of how far back they go as a fan. ;) But still, that's a far cry from RJ's claim that "most" here are only "following the hype".........if "most" means one out of two people. Exaggerate much? ;D