The rollout hath begun. For a little while now, Arcade Fire have been cryptically teasing new music through mysterious web ads and postcards. Yesterday, the band announced that a new single called “The Lightning I, II” would arrive later in the week. Last night, Arcade Fire played a show at New Orleans’ Toulouse Theatre. When the band announced that show yesterday, we reported that it would be Arcade Fire’s first full-band show in a little over two years, but that apparently wasn’t the case; the band also played a secret warm-up show in the same venue the night before. In any case, Arcade Fire played last night, and their set included a few new songs. Videos of some of those new songs are now out in the world.

According to Setlist.fm, Arcade Fire debuted the new songs “Rabbit Hole” and “Age Of Anxiety” during their warm-up set on Sunday night, and they also busted out “Generation A,” the song that they debuted on Stephen Colbert’s 2020 election-night special. (“Age Of Anxiety” isn’t the same as “Memories In The Age Of Anxiety,” the 45-minute track that the band released on the meditation app Headspace last year.) At last night’s show, they played those new songs again, and they also gave “The Lightning I, II” its live debut. Both of those gigs were no-phone shows, but Arcade Fire themselves streamed much of last night’s show live on Instagram. They cut the stream off before getting to “Rabbit Hole,” but clips of the other two tracks have made their way to the world wide web.

It’s worth nothing that Will Butler was not a part of either show; Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner filled in for him. Below, you can watch IG live rips of Arcade Fire playing “Age Of Anxiety,” last night’s opener, and “The Lightning I, II.” It’s always hard to tell from these low-quality live videos, but the new songs sound big and driving and purposeful. There’s a good chance that Arcade Fire are back in the business of making anthems. Below, watch those two videos and check out last night’s setlist.

SETLIST:
01 “Age Of Anxiety”
02 “Ready To Start”
03 “The Suburbs”
04 “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)”
05 “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”
06 “Everything Now”
07 “Haïti”
08 “Afterlife”
09 “Reflektor”
10 “Rabbit Hole”
11 “Creature Comfort”
12 “Keep The Car Running”
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13 “The Lightning I, II”
14 “Rebellion (Lies)”
15 “Generation A”
16 “Wake Up”

“The Lightning I, II” is out 3/17.