Arcade Fire Sneak Fans Into Show!!!

Win Butler is a hero. A fan of Arcade Fire wrote a long winding post about how he recently got into an two Arcade Fire shows in London.

The first night he was able to get in because some employees for Merge felt bad that he and his friend from Canada (London from Canada, wow) didn't get in. So they got them in for free.

The next night is just truly magical though. It outlines why Arcade Fire is the best band now. Long story short: fan tries to get in again, but can't land any tickets; Win sneaks out of the venue and motions him to come in; fan feels bad for others ticketless, so he brings the whole troop along; as Win and the 10 fans sneak into the venue, a tout tells them it is not allowed; then Win and fan fend off the tout as everyone sneaks in -- it even ends with a punchline.

Read the post here. (Arcade Fire write back on their Myspace wall!!!)

Visit here to see when you can buy Arcade Fire tickets for their upcoming North American tour. Chicago Theater -- here I come.

Arcade Fire Hitting The SNL Stage

Once again you will have to gather all your patience and use it while watching Saturday Night Live. Why? I don't know, watching the best band in the world seems like a good reason. Arcade Fire are set to to rock SNL on February 24th -- that's next week.

The band are currently in the middle of a 5-night stay in New York. I have only heard great things including Win handing out chocolate and other sweets shaped as hearts to the fans.

So far celebrity sightings have been Fab from the Strokes, Drew Barrymore, Andy Samberg (SNL), Spike Jonze, David Cross, and Kirstin Dunst.

Arcade Fire Announce North American Tour!!!

We have been waiting so long for this.

02-13 New York, NY - Judson Memorial Church
02-14 New York, NY - Judson Memorial Church
02-15 New York, NY - Judson Memorial Church
02-16 New York, NY - Judson Memorial Church
02-17 New York, NY - Judson Memorial Church
04-26 San Diego, CA - Spreckels Theatre
04-28 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
05-01 Atlanta, GA - Civic Center
05-02 Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
05-04 Washington, DC - DAR Constitution Hall
05-05 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre
05-07 New York, NY - TBA
05-08 New York, NY - TBA
05-09 New York, NY - TBA
05-10 Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
05-12 Montreal, Quebec - Arena Maurice Richard
05-13 Montreal, Quebec - Arena Maurice Richard
05-15 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall
05-16 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall
05-18 Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre
05-19 Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre
05-20 Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre
05-27 Portland, OR - Schnitzer Concert Hall

Video: Arcade Fire @ Porchester Hall

First and foremost, Neon Bible rocks.

Glad I got that out of my system. Arcade Fire played Porchester Hall last night, being spectated most notably by Coldplay's Chris Martin and The Rakes' Alan Donohoe. It was the band's 4th London gig in a five gig lineup.

After assuring the crowd that they are indeed the best band in the world, Arcade Fire set up in the foyer of the venue for an acoustic sing-a-long of "Wake Up."

At first, frontman Win Butler was setting up his megaphone in the foyer. When three security guards noticed what the band were trying to do, they tried to shoot down the idea and tell everyone to pack their bags and go home. Win refused to let the guards deny him of his duty.

"One of the guards was literally manhandling Win, who was pretty pissed off and shouted 'Don't fucking touch me' before shrugging off the attention and defiantly placing his mic stand at the bottom of the foyer stairs," reported an NME journalist.

Then after the band finished up their foyer performance, they led the crowd back into the hall for a cover of the Clash's "The Guns of Brixton." Read more here.



Look for Chris Martin on the left hand side of your screen at six seconds in.

Take What You Are Given

I promised myself I wouldn't listen to anymore Arcade Fire leaks. But who was I kidding? Another tune from Arcade Fire's Neon Bible has found it's way to the internet -- "My Body Is A Cage".

It begins very stripped down just an organ, a quiet, haunting drum, and the chilling voice of Win Butler, which sounds higher and more vulnerable than usual.

The track slowly but surely escalades to epic proportions like the other leaks. We don't want to give it all away though.

"My Body Is A Cage"(Removed due to request from Merge Records)

Bowie Organizing New York Music Festival

The trendiest rocker ever Mr. David Bowie himself has organized the HighLine Festival. The festival will take place in New York City in May. The only confirmed act other than Bowie is Daniel Johnston.

Bowie has always been with the crowd and his current musical favorites show it. Bowie has publicily addressed his liking of Arcade Fire, TV On The Radio, and The Secret Machines. Could Bowie pull off the ultimate indie wet dream and get Arcade Fire and TV On The Radio in the same festival? Well, let's examine the chance.

TV On The Radio just recently announced a large North American tour. The announced dates end on April 21st. Check.

Arcade Fire announced a mini NYC tour in support of Neon Bible for the month of May. If you were like the most of us common folk and didn't grab tickets for the NYC dates, it's possible that Will and Co. could make a stop. Fingers crossed.

The exact dates for HighLine are set for May 9-19.

Let's also give a big happy birthday to Bowie who turned 60 on January 8th!

HighLine Festival Website

Neon Bible Release Date and Tracklisting Revealed

Finally, the curtain has been lifted. The nuclear bomb of the music world, Neon Bible, is being released in America on March 6th (March 5th for Europe). A tracklisting for the holy bible has also been given.

The way the band decided to release details on the album continues to be awesome. "Intervention" was a phone line. "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" was an 'accidental' leak. This time Richard Reed Parry, Juno Award winner and guitarist of Arcade Fire, acts as a host of an infomercial -- one of those infomercials about the Best of 80s, when they have the tracklisting scroll down the screen while song samples get played.

Plain and simple, this band is just better than everyone else.

Tracklisting:

1. Black Mirror

2. Keep The Car Running

3. Neon Bible

4. Intervention

5. Black Wave Bad Vibrations

6. Ocean of Noise

7. The Well & The Lighthouse

8. Antichrist Television Blues

9. Windowsill

10. No Cars Go

11. My Body is a Cage

Mirror, Mirror

The hype surrounding Arcade Fire's second album Neon Bible is exploding in the music world. Two songs to date -- "Intervention" and "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" -- have found their way to the internet in some fashion. Both tracks have receieved generally great reviews from boys and girls.

"Black Mirror" is the newest addition to the Neon Bible family. "Mirror" was posted on Arcadefire.com by singer/songwriter Win Butler and is the first single.

"Mirror" is unfortunately the least impressive song of the bunch. I just don't understand where the band tries to drive the song. It's a mess of different instruments -- strings, piano, oboe sounding thing -- jumping in for the sake of jumping in. A basic melody that doesn't ever change and a really lame chorus don't help out Win and Co. either.

"Black Mirror"

Merge Records Coughs Up New Arcade Fire

Mystery continues to loom over Arcade Fire and their upcomning album Neon Bible. Merge Records asked a human being to do a simple task -- upload "Intervention" , the band's new single, onto iTunes as a charity single benefitting Partners In Health. This person (someone find his name so we can go Bartman on his ass in an opposite manner) uploaded the wrong track AND decided to drop it two days earlier.

Win Butler's direct quote from Arcadefire.com on the leak:

"Intervention" was supposed to be uploaded to iTunes as a charity single benefitting Partners In Health on the 28th of December, but someone at Merge uploaded the wrong song 2 days too early ... The song that people have downloaded from the US side of iTunes is called "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations," and it is the next track on the record after "Intervention." I guess it is sort of charming that we can send the wrong song to the whole world with a click of a mouse...oh well. The real "Intervention" will be up soon, and there will be a paypal link up on arcadefire.com for those who have downloaded the songs without paying but still want to give some money to www.PIH.org.


So how is the song? Go to Stereogum's post, and scroll threw the comments. I think it's the 13th comment that has a link.