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recommended boston area events

wednesday and thursday

february 10th and 11th

the magnetic fields

laura barrett

@ the wilbur theatre


thursday, february 11th

v66 reunion

with rod & cones, big city rock,

the fools, o positive, animotion,

right turn, digney fingus, ernie boch jr.,

lizzie borden and the axes, & more

@ house of blues


thursday, february 11th

found audio

the first annual

the rockefeller fortune

boone

@ oliver's / cask 'n flagon


friday, february 12th

kings of convenience

franklin for short

@ the paradise


saturday, february 13th

one happy island

human hearts (with franklin bruno)

boy genius

free! @ toad, cambridge


saturday, february 13th

a benefit for haiti

the okay win

new son rising

the elevators

@ copperfields


saturday, february 13th

tegan & sara

holly miranda

@ the orpheum


sunday, february 14th

we were promised jetpacks

bad veins

royal bangs

@ the middle east downstairs


monday, february 15th

a benefit for haiti

with big bear, ketman,

chris brokaw, monique ortiz,

art decade, & the dirty dishes

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, wednesday, & thursday

february 16th, 17th, & 18th

3 nights with jonathan richman

@ the middle east upstairs


thursday, february 18th

editors

the antlers

@ house of blues


friday, february 19th

28 degrees taurus

el jezel

the broken river prophet

metal feathers

@ o'briens, allston


friday, february 19th

taken by trees

el perro del mar

@ the cambridge ymca theatre


saturday, february 20th

dawes

corey chisel & the wandering sons

jason boesel (rilo kiley)

@ great scott


monday, february 22nd

boy without god

ryan lee crosby quartet

the wailing wall

sleepy very sleepy

@ tt the bears


wednesday, february 24th

wild beasts

still life still

dj carbo

@ great scott


saturday, february 27th

hadoken (cd release)

caspian

irepress

slowest runner

@ tt the bears


monday, march 1st

rogue wave

@ the paradise


tuesday, march 9th

jet

crash kings

@ the paradise


monday, march 15th

one happy island

standard fare

summer cats

@ great scott


monday, march 15th

letting up despite great faults

the brother kite

plumerai

singing bridges

@ the middle east upstairs


wednesday, march 17th

joanna newsom

@ the sanders theatre, harvard


wednesday, march 17th

henry rollins (spoken word)

@ the somerville theatre


sunday, march 21st

the clientele

field music

@ great scott


saturday, march 20th

air

am

@ berklee performance center


thursday, march 25th

aloud

action camp

hello ninja

@ great scott


thursday, march 25th

the donnas

@ the paradise


friday, march 26th

basia bulat

marissa nadler

lady lamb the beekeeper

@ tt the bears


saturday, march 27th

your say party! we say die!

the new collisions

static of the gods (cd release)

@ tt the bears


saturday, march 27th

the big pink

a place to bury strangers

@ the paradise


saturday, march 27th

spoon

deerhunter

@ the house of blues


sunday, march 28th

beach house

bachelorette

@ the paradise


monday, march 29th

the soft pack

nodzzz

beaters

@ great scott


tuesday, march 30th

shearwater

wye oak

hospital ships

@ tt the bears


tuesday, march 30th

manchester orchestra

the features

biffy clyro

o'brother

@ the paradise


wednesday, march 31st

japandroids

love is all

girlfriends

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, march 31st

miike snow

delorean

@ the paradise


wednesday, march 31st

a sunny day in glasgow

pants yell!

bearstronaut

@ great scott


thursday, april 1st

girls

dum dum girls

@ the paradise


friday, april 2nd

the xx

jj (late show only)

two shows @ the paradise


friday, april 2nd

drive-by truckers

lucero

langhorne slim

@ the house of blues


saturday, april 3rd

nada surf

@ the paradise


sunday, april 4th

serena maneesh

depreciation guild

@ tt the bears


tuesday, april 6th

wilco

@ the orpheum


wednesday, april 7th

florence & the machine

@ the paradise


wednesday, april 7th

rocky votolato

brooke waggoner

@ great scott


friday, april 9th

midlake

@ the paradise


saturday, april 10th

xiu xiu

tune-yards

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, april 10th

ted leo & the pharmacists

obits

@ the paradise


saturday, april 10th

pissed jeans

confines

sqrm

@ great scott


monday, april 12th

the wedding present

play their 1989 lp 'bizarro'

with openers girl in a coma

@ the middle east downstairs


thursday, april 15th

red sparowes

doomriders

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, april 17th

kaki king

an horse

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, april 17th

the morning benders

miniature tigers

@ tt the bears


sunday, april 18th

the thermals

past lives

@ the middle east downstairs


monday, april 19th

trans am

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, april 20th

owen pallett (aka final fantasy)

@ the ica boston


tuesday, april 20th

elvis costello & the sugarcanes

@ the orpheum


tuesday, april 20th

the low anthem

@ the paradise


tuesday, april 20th

quasi

let's wrestle

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, april 24th

los campesinos!

here we go magic

@ the paradise


wednesday, april 28th

gogol bordello

devotchka

jesse malin

st. mark's social

@ the house of blues


thursday, april 29th

frightened rabbit

@ the paradise


friday, april 30th

corinne bailey ray

@ the house of blues


friday, april 30th

the album leaf

sea wolf

@ the paradise


wednesday, april 28th

little boots

dragonette

fan death

@ the middle east downstairs


monday, may 3rd

yeasayer

sleigh bells

@ the paradise


thursday, may 6th

shout out louds

@ the paradise


tuesday & wednesday

may 11th & 12th

dr. dog

deer tick

@ the paradise


thursday, may 13th

small brown bike

bridge and tunnel

your skull my closet

wallcreeper

@ great scott


tuesday, may 25th

smittens

allo darlin'

one happy island

horrowitz

@ toad


wednesday, may 26th

reverend horton heat

cracker

miss derringer

@ the house of blues


wednesday, june 2nd

the national

@ the house of blues


friday, june 4th

brian jonestown massacre

@ the paradise


saturday, june 19th

james taylor

carole king

@ the garden


visit tourfilter for more shows



Sunday, November 14, 2004

Live: The Arcade Fire

Had I sat down and written about Friday night's set by Montreal's The Arcade Fire immediately after coming home from it, you'd be reading a bunch of gushing, over the top gibberish. Seriously... it'd have been a stammering, probably embarrassing, hyperbolic freak-out, struggling for new adjectives, paragraphs that boiled down to 'Um... Wow!'.

Two days later, I'm still feeling it, still reeling from it, hardly coming down. It was one of those mouth-opening shows, standing there slack-jawed and smiling from beginning to end, feeling sorry for every single other person in the world who isn't in the room.


At 11:30 on Friday night, 45 minutes before they were due hit the stage, I was actually laying comfortably in bed. I was drained from a long week, from Silkworm the night before, and besides, it was freakin' cold out. Boston was covered in it's first (and far too early) snowfall of the year, but at that very moment, openers The Hidden Cameras were probably on stage over at TT the Bears. I have absolutely no idea where I found the motivation to rise, bundle up, clean the damn snow off my car, and get across the river to Cambridge. Actually, yes I do... it came from here. Their debut album, one of the best of the year. I just had to know if they could possibly, even remotely, recreate it live. And boy, uh, did they ever.

The sold-out crowd was equal parts excited fans, hopeful hipsters, and clueless college students who were there because it was 'the place to be' on that particular friday night. And every single damn one of 'em was swept up in what happened when the seven people on stage broke into the "Whooooooaaaa...oooohhhh!" vocals of "Wake Up", the first song. Seven voices yelling out in unison, it just sounded huge. I've been to TTs more times than I care to recall, and I have never heard a band sound this good, mixed this perfectly. Seven band members, all playing instruments, at times all singing. Drums, strings, keyboard, vibra-muh-phone, guitar, bass, tamborines, motorcyle helmet, accordian... I could hear every single note, every voice. I was just floored.


They actually introduced that first song with "This is our last song, thanks for coming!", and I'm sure there are people who still would have thought they got their money's worth had that been true. Playing and sweating for over an hour, they did mostly songs from Funeral, along with a couple from their self-released debut EP, what may be a brand new one (that's open for debate), and a well-chosen cover.

Y'know, I'm not one for crowds, and I'm the first guy to run screaming from sold-out shows. We were jam-packed into TTs, and as I suffered through 15 minutes of shoulder-to-shoulder pre-set jostling, I wondered if this could possibly be worth it. If anything could be. After midnight, that's when the sloppy drunks come out, and TTs was brimming with 'em. Loud talkers, slurring idiots, rude, jockeying louts. Fortunately, that all disappeared when The Arcade Fire started up. Nothing bothered me from that moment on... I swear, someone coulda been punching me in the neck for the whole hour, and I still would have exclaimed "Best show ever!". Just amazing.


And I recorded the whole damn thing. At this moment, having listened to it nearly a dozen times this weekend, it's the crown of my live collection. It seems logically impossible that their sound, the overwhelming hugeness comin' from that stage, could have been funneled into a little clip-on microphone... but somehow it was. It's a testament to their soundperson Sharon (who used to work at the Middle East) that you can make out every instrument in a single-mic recording. Just genius.
The Arcade Fire

Live at TT the Bears
Cambridge, MA, Nov. 12th, 2004

note: this set was reposted here on 3/6/2007

01. Wake Up
02. Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
03. Une Annee Sans Lumiere
04. Neighborhood #3(PowerOut) / Rebellion (Lies)
05. This Must Be The Place (Talking Heads)
06. Haiti
07. Headlights Look Like Diamonds
08. Burning Bridges (new)
09. Crown of Love
10. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
11. No Cars Go
12. In The Backseat
You could hear the shouts of pure joy near the beginning of each song, people just letting out an unfiltered "Yeah!!!", like we're at some olde tyme evangelical revival. "Praise The Arcade Fire! Have Mercy!". I love the moment where some guy yells out a perfectly unrestrained "Holy SHIT!". We were all caught up in it... the crowd swaying and smiling and jumping and cheering and appreciating everything in front of us.


I could go on, and on, and on some more. Get me talking about this in person and my eyes'll light up, you'll understand what this show did for me. Amie could tell, and she's making me take her along when they come back "in the dead of winter", as the band said from the stage. A stage they'd already outgrown before they even arrived.

So, yeah, um... Wow!

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