i saw the arcade fire last night.

so there's lots i havent written about lately... there was a slip show in montreal. a female icelandic string band, called amiina, in toronto. there were the final rheostatics shows in waterloo and toronto, at the horseshoe and massey hall, in all their bittersweet goodbye to heroes laryngitic glory. i've been working on promo, looking into studios, and thinking about taiwan. my stomach went from bad to worse, then i had a cheeseburger at patty's, and it got better again. i've been reading lots of news, and watching lots of hockey. there was sharkwater, and im in the middle of the planet earth series. i saw eternal sunshine of the spotless mind for the first time, and im not sure i ever want to see it again. the words of springsteen and adams have run back into my life like a hurricane... neil's been around, too.

that should bring us pretty close to date, to last night, when i went and saw the arcade fire at massey hall.

take me to the river and wash me in the water.

i was curious how this would pan out during the first song, black mirror, looking around a sold out massey hall, everyone on their feet, but generally apprehensive otherwise - still feeling out the room, the band, the crowd - but i got my answer when the song finished. Win, in a move surely designed to give the massey hall staff a coronary, invited anyone who wanted to to come up as close as they could, use up the aisles, and have a rock n roll party. good call, Win. from then on, it was a massey hall shitshow. the energy in the room went up hundred-fold, the band obviously fed off it and delivered a powerful set of tunes from their records, highlighted for me by Antichrist Television Blues (for jerry falwell, hahahah), Ocean of Noise, the Neighbourhood's Tunnels and Power Out, and Rebellion (lies). sincerely, it's hard to separate it all - one pocket of glory to the next - when you have so much intensity coming at you from all angles, in every moment of the night. the arcade fire use upwards of 10 humans with big voices and a wealth of energy, heavy percussives, driving bass and guitar rhythms, organs, keyboards and string instruments to create this monstrous apocalyptic wall of sound gospel rock. it may not sound anything like what you think gospel music would sound like, but hell if it aint near religious to some degree. they can also contain it all, mellow it down and tug softly on your heart strings, which despite its brilliance, leads to my only critisism of the show: coming out for the encores, with so much of the crowds energy in the palm of their hand, and pulling off a mellower tune.. great perfomance, but the rocker in me wanted them to use our energy up for all it was worth.

and i didnt get to live a Wake Up in massey.

off-stage, the highlight was easily the toronto crowd. *gasp*!. i know. did i just say that? its true, though. the crowd was incredible. easily the most diverse and eclectic group of people i've ever seen having the same reactions all night, and as if it wasnt enough to just be simply having reactions, as most toronto crowds are pretty dull, these folks were into it, BIG TIME! from start to finish, i've never seen massey hall entirely on her feet. absolutely beautiful.

tonite is night 2, and i can only imagine what they have in store for that crowd.

go see the arcade fire if you ever have the chance.