An Arcade Fire rollout is happening. It's been two and a half years since multiple people accused Win Butler of sexual misconduct, but the entertainment industry has not exiled the band. They're still headlining festivals and making appearances at high-profile events like SNL’s 50th anniversary Homecoming Concert. And Thursday, they were surprise guests at Willie Nelson's annual Luck Reunion, debuting new music and announcing a new album.
Arcade Fire have been doing the things bands do in the leadup to a new album announcement, including changing their social media icons and adjusting their bios to read "it's the year of the snake so let your heart break." They were also supposed to be surprise guests at the Nelson-headlined Luck Reunion — which takes place every year during SXSW at Nelson's Luck Ranch in Spicewood, about an hour outside of Austin — but the info must have leaked in advance because Redditors were aware. A scaled-down version of the band with just Butler, Régine Chassagne, Tim Kingsbury, and Paul Beaubrun performed dressed as jesters in a saloon for a crowd of about 100 people. Based on photos and video from the event, they did part of the show onstage and part in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the audience.
The mini-Arcade Fire played an eight-song set, starting with four new songs. They opened with "Cars And Telephones," an unreleased song they've done before, then debuted three more called "Pink Elephant," "Year Of The Snake," and "Ride Or Die." After covering "Deep In The Heart Of Texas" by Butler's grandfather Alvino Rey, the band closed out with three old songs, "The Suburbs," "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)," and "Wake Up." A printed setlist posted to Reddit also included "My Body Is A Cage" after the Alvino Rey cover, but setlist.fm says the band did not play that one. According to one Redditor, Butler confirmed an album is on the way. Bootleg audio from the performance is available here. Other performers at the event included Waxahatchee and the country-pivoting Jessica Simpson (on her first day performing in 15 years).
Setlist
byu/Dream_in_Cerulean inarcadefire
