Photo Credit: Mor Weizman

Editors' Notes

Régine Chassagne, Tim Kingsbury, William Butler, Win Butler and Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire perform outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Mor Weizman

Editors' Notes

Arcade Fire performs outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Mor Weizman

Editors' Notes

Arcade Fire performs outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Mor Weizman

Editors' Notes

Arcade Fire performs outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Mor Weizman

Editors' Notes

Arcade Fire performs outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Mor Weizman

Editors' Notes

Arcade Fire performs outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Mor Weizman

Editors' Notes

Arcade Fire performs outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Mor Weizman

Editors' Notes

Arcade Fire performs outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Mor Weizman

Editors' Notes

Arcade Fire performs outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Mor Weizman

Editors' Notes

Confetti blows at the Arcade Fire performance outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.

“I don’t know guys. Sometimes I think I woke up in the wrong body in the wrong time,” said Arcade Fire vocalist Win Butler from his perch on a stage erected below the Capital Records building in Hollywood on Tuesday, October 29. “Do you ever get the feeling that something isn’t right?” he adds, looking down at fans gathered in the parking lot below and along Vine Street. “Your parents? Your neighbors? You’re in a band and you just want to play songs. I don’t know.” The Montreal-based indie band front man’s musings served as an introduction to “You Already Know,” the sixth track on the first disc of Arcade Fire’s new album, Reflektor (Merge Records).

The concert took place the day after the two-disc album launched, and the band’s look for the evening was literally reflective. Butler wore a gold lamé jacket while his wife, Régine Chassagne, donned a patterned silver dress, and platinum-colored streamers hung from the stage. Even the audience at the Music Experiment Project event orchestrated by Intel and MTV arrived clothed in shiny interpretations of 1970s glam rock. The David Bowie-esque body glitter and makeup on fan’s faces and limbs served as both a nod to the danceable tunes on Reflektor and a tribute to Halloween.

The band played nine songs from the new album and Butler added a tribute to rocker Lou Reed—who died the previous Sunday—by adding a riff of Reed’s “Perfect Day” to Arcade Fire’s “Supersymmetry.” Then Butler announced he would “shut up and play the hits,” during the band’s encore. Chassagne twirled silver streamers like a rhythmic gymnast during “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountain)” and Butler renamed the final song, “I woke up and was on top of a building in Los Angeles” rather than its more well-known moniker, “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out).” The band, known for playing violins, harps, and a host of other instruments during performances, dialed up the rhythm, but also amplified the glamour. In short, the evening was a fitting precursor to All Hallows’ Eve.

By Elizabeth Varnell

Setlist:
“Reflektor”
“Flashbulb Eyes”
“Afterlife”
“It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus)”
“We Exist”
“You Already Know”
“Normal Person”
“Haiti”
“Here Comes the Night Time”
“Supersymmetry”
“Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”
“Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)”

Pictured: Win Butler and Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire perform outside the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles.
Photo by Mor Weizman