Arcade Fire Played Funeral In Full Last Night
Here’s a cool thing for a veteran band to do: Suddenly and unexpectedly play an entire beloved album, front to back, at a live show. Nine Inch Nails did it just last week, playing their 1992 EP Broken in full at a Phoenix show. And last night, when Arcade Fire played at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, they did something similar, opening their show by blazing all the way through their I-guess-we-can-call-it-classic-now 2004 debut album Funeral.
Last night’s Arcade Fire show was 14 years and six days after the release of Funeral, the album that catapulted Arcade Fire to indie stardom. Perhaps just as important, it was one year and two months after the release of Everything Now, the first Arcade Fire album that was not immediately greeted with near-unanimous praise. If Arcade Fire wanted to remind the world why they are a truly special band, there are worse ways to go about it.
Last night’s setlist had 23 songs, so once they got done with the 10-song Funeral, the band still put plenty of time into raging through the rest of their catalog. None of the Funeral songs are live rarities, but it still must’ve been a rush to hear them all in a row like that. Watch some videos from last night’s show below, via Pitchfork.
It’s a Funeral encore ! @arcadefire the best day ever @ArcadeFireTube pic.twitter.com/H7oPnllQDJ
— Indie Sanz (@sanzindi) September 21, 2018
Might’ve cried a bit. #inthebackseat #arcadefire #funeral pic.twitter.com/PlVGTLddiw
— Michael R. (@TheBringerOfPie) September 21, 2018
According to the Arcade Fire Tube Twitter, which seems to know these things, Arcade Fire will play Funeral in full two more times — presumably at their second LA Greek Theatre show tonight, and then at the Berkeley Greek Theatre tomorrow. So get your ass to one of those shows if you can.