Arcade Fire "wakes up" Berkeley

October 2, 2010, at the Greek Theatre

By Katherine Hoffert
Published: October 7th, 2010 | 2:00pm

When it comes to indie music, Arcade Fire is the gold standard of the '00s. The band made a seismic shift in the zeitgeist with its exuberant, multi-instrumental sound and Billboard chart-topping sales and now has set a precedent for Web/fan interaction in the promotion of its latest album, The Suburbs (Merge). Frontman Win Butler took a moment this Saturday night to thank the sold-out crowd at the Greek Theatre for letting him and his band members have “the best job in the world” before closing the night with “Wake Up” off their 2004 debut, Funeral (Merge). Though this song has been featured in everything from a major motion picture to the NFL Super Bowl, it still felt personal enough for Butler to dedicate it to his late Grandpa Vino, whose death inspired a great deal of the album that started it all.

Sporting a few newly-shaved heads, the seven members of the Montreal band took the outdoor amphitheater stage like an army of street musicians—equipped with an arsenal of bullhorns, floor toms, and an endless supply of energy and stage antics. They played through songs from all three of their albums, and even the horn players from opener Calexico joined them onstage for an especially loud version of “Ocean of Noise.”

Though Butler threw a lot out at the crowd—water, a tambourine, his microphone—it was his wife, Régine Chassagne, that made a real impact that night. Starting off on percussion, which she played in perfect sync with drummer Jeremy Gara on opener “Ready to Start,” she twirled ribbons and zombie-danced around the giant stage, switching from accordion (“Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)”) to keys (“Rebellion (Lies)”) to hurdy-gurdy (“Keep the Car Running”) like a pro. The audience hung on her every move, erupting in applause as she belted out her first lines in “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” and took the lead on “Haiti,” singing about her unborn cousins haunting the night in Duvalier: “Rien n'arrete nos esprits / Guns can't kill what soldiers can't see.”

Arcade Fire has been very active in raising awareness and funds for Haiti, with $1 from every ticket sale on this tour donated to the organization Partners in Health. When Butler pointed out that there were 8,500 people in the audience that night, the magnitude of this effort became apparent. Yet it was during the final song, as the band lined up along the front of the stage screaming at the crowd to “Wake up!” which was powerfully reciprocated by those 8,500 fans, that the band’s real impact sank in.

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Arcade Fire official site

Arcade Fire MySpace page

Calexico's official site

Partners in Health