zzzfest

It is reported Robert had serious vocal issues on stage in Birmingham. Wonder if the Cardiff show today will go ahead as planned.

AFAIR it was half past ten when they finished the first encore “doom set” in Glasgow. It depends on when you leave the venue, but even if you have to miss the entire second encore “pop set”, you can still enjoy 2 hrs 15-20 mins of the blistering Cure performance. Better than no Cure. And still longer than the truncated 2-hour set in Manchester 2016 (which I had to content myself with)😅

A monumental, triumphant return to Glasgow last night, after the memorable Bellahouston Park gig three years ago, which was their first Scottish appearance in 27 years. The show was a complete sell-out. I don’t have a complaint about the setlist, either. I, too, would have loved to hear Plainsong and Disintegration, among others, but instead we got Faith and One Hundred Years. They are usually alternated night to night, and I had heard the former in recent years, at Hyde Park and Bellahouston Park. A night of perfection.

They played 25 songs the first night. This is akin to their festive set in 2019 (24-7 songs played in 2 hrs to 2hrs 15 mins) with some minor tweaks. On the other hand, on their 2016 tour (their last arena tour), they played around 30-35 songs in 2 hrs 40 mins to 3 hrs. Are these days gone?

Easier said than done.

To be fair, none of their outputs from Neon Bible onwards has been the second coming of Funeral although Neon Bible and The Suburbs are both great albums in their own right. Funeral is just sublime, untouchable — for me it is the greatest rock album released in this century up to this point. The noticeable decline of the quality started with Reflektor IMHO. As for Everything Now…better left untold (I must say, though, the title track played as the main set closer on the current tour sounded surprisingly good, even uplifting, amidst all this ongoing scandal). WE? I haven’t heard it yet (am I a worshipper?).

We will see where the matters are going.

Well, once the tour left the British soil, this thread, where the forum members had posted countless scathing comments on Win and the group, went into complete radio silence for over two weeks. Let alone the general public.

Does anybody remember the allegations? Arcade Fire duly finished the European tour yesterday, on a high or not.

Sounds like the O2 was sufficiently full, just like the other UK venues on the tour itinerary. “Well-populated show casts doubt on notions of a boycott while on stage the band fail to reach former heights” https://www.ft.com/content/9c222716-ae4f-40f5-9084-5d3886798e12 [N.B. If the link doesn’t work, search with the article title, “Arcade Fire plod on at the O2 Arena amid allegations against singer”] When AF played a one off “warm-up” gig at KOKO back in April, NME, The Guardian and Evening Standard all published glowing five-star reviews. This time the aforementioned Financial Times gave meagre two stars. Given the generally positive responses to their shows on this board, I can imagine the reviewer would have given four if not five stars had it not been for the case. This might tell how hard it can be to perceive the music or the performance for what it is, separating the art from the artist. Easier said than done.

How big (or small) was the turnout at the London show?

As you say, in a way, I drew the responses I predicted (“I’m afraid I may be called selfish or a dick”) therefore I have to take the consequences. You need to grow thick skin to survive in an internet social. That being said, why respond at this timing? After almost two days since my post? And amidst the news of THE PASSING? Did you learn how to pick an awkward timing from Pitchfork?

“So self entitled” is quite a strong insult — you’d better consider the impact and hurt it gives to me, really.

Possible. Who knows. Then again, did Pitchfork get the information and then the consent to publish it from the victims, say, a week before? The chance is slim if any.

No. But I would have been more prepared for the cancellation had it been announced way before the tour started.

Not because they criticized Win Butler but because they did it at the ruthless timing.

Agreed. In fact, that’s just about what I thought. However, Pitchfork could have issued the information some time after Arcade Fire released WE and announced the tour, which was not their “inactive” period, not just three days before the tour opening.

Can you explain why Pitchfork chose to publish the article at this timing? Is it a pure coincidence? I don’t think so.

What I don’t like about the course of the events is the timing Pitchfork publicized the news. It was Saturday 27th, August, only three days before Arcade Fire commenced the tour in Dublin. It is safe to assume that the Pitchfork team had obtained the information a while back, kept it under wraps for some time and been waiting for the right time aiming at the biggest blow to AF. It worked. Win Butler has every reason to be criticized for his sexual behaviour, and this scandal would have been exposed to the public sooner or later. Yet there is something unnerving in the way Pitchfork put it into action, “the end justifies the means” sort of vibe. In my humble opinion, they should have done it sooner rather than later if they did at all. I’m afraid I may be called selfish or a dick (or both) if I say this. I was looking forward to seeing Feist as much as AF. It would have been less damaging had the case been disclosed earlier, leading the tour to be scrapped altogether way before. Whilst Feist’s statement is genuinely honest and thoughtful, and I respect her decision to pull out of the tour, I can’t stop feeling Pitchfork deprived me of the chance to see her.

Both are for NHS workers (I’m not). I can’t see the upcoming events on Tickets For Gold as it requires sign in, but Blue Light Tickets offers none of Tomorrow’s AF@O2 Arena show as far as I can see.

You can’t overestimate “some folks”. For example, at the time of writing this post, 54 sellers offer 112 tickets in total for tomorrow’s London O2 Arena show (including face value) on Twicket. From the viewpoint of the venue’s capacity of 20,000, and especially considering floor standing in AF’s case, they are a tiny fraction on the whole.

Surprise surprise, Glasgow was 90 % full. The poor turnout is a fake news. Again, a great show. After attending two nights, though, now I’m starting to feel the same as another poster comments — I prefer the last tour, too. By unfortunate luck of rotation, I couldn’t hear some of their big tunes they played in Dublin and Manchester, e.g. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) and No Cars Go, which adds to personal disappointment. My image about them is certainly spoilt by Win’s disgrace, but the brilliance of their music and musicianship remains unchanged.

Roisin was set to play 18:45 - 20:45 on timetable. I was bewildered when she finished the show at 20:30. I moved from Stage 2 to Stage 1 when she was supposed to start performing — which means I missed her show by 15 minutes or so. I’m annoyed now.

I thinks that’s the way Khruangbin sound — emphasizing Laula’s bass that is a big part of their charm. And to my ears the guitar sounded crystal clear. Agreed that Jamie XX was an utter snooze fest. Not festival headliner material to begin with.

Hahaha, I felt the opposite. I saw all of the four acts on Stage 1 Charli XCX onwards and the sound was superb all the way. I was standing leaning on the rail right in front of the sound shed during the first three of them (Charli, Khruangbin and Little Simz) and felt the sound and the mix pretty good. I was way back from the stage for headliner Jamie xx and the sound was also no problem to me. I also saw part of Fred Again and Floating Points on Stage 2, moving around somewhere between the sound shed and the side of the arena and the sound was also good. It was a pretty manageable setting as there were only two music stages and you don’t have to walk around among multiple stages. I felt far less tired as compared with All Points East for example. Be there and make your own judgements.