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Arcade Fire Cause Anarchy at Radio City


Security at Radio City Music Hall worked triple time trying to keep fans at Arcade Fire's debut gig at the venue under control. And for the most part, they failed.

The band's last of three sold out Manhattan gigs -- and the first of David Bowie's Highline Music Festival shows -- started out as prim and proper as any other stuffy Radio City performance. And frontman Win Butler let the crowd know right off the bat that he wasn't having it.

"Come on, there's plenty of room down front. Let more people up here!" he yelled immediately after the band's first song. A sprinkling of fans drifted from their seats as the crowd came to life, but they were quickly shut down by the flashlight-wielding guards barking orders in the aisles.

That's how things went for most of the band's 90-minute set. Butler pulled; security pushed. Then, he called for straight-up anarchy. "I don't know if you've noticed, but there's only like four security guards down here, and there are a lot of you. So come on, get down here. I mean, what the f*** are they gonna do? Jesus!"

Then Arcade Fire launched into 'Power Out' and the proverbial hell broke loose.

A hundred people swarmed the aisles and pushed frustrated security members to the side as they made their way to the stage, with the most fired-up fans taking on two or three guards at once. So much chaos ensued that perfectionist Butler fumbled the words to the song. (His response? A hearty laugh followed by an "Ah, f*** it.") The tide eventually turned when Butler entered the audience himself to lead a loud-as-f*** sing-along of 'Rebellion.' Finally, the red coats waved their white flags and let the fist-pumping crowd have their way.

Let's see the Rockettes pull that off.

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ieutfjdghasgdiewutahdsgjk

haha to the security guards. this is pretty cool.

May 15 2007 at 10:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kho

i'm not gonna lie...that's pretty badass. two thumbs up for anarchy.

May 15 2007 at 9:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jason

It was a great show

May 13 2007 at 7:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dave

Jim you are so f-ing cool it blows my mind.

May 10 2007 at 7:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bill

no anarchy in the third row either.....
just trying to get outta the way of fascist security bullies

May 10 2007 at 4:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Talia

I was there! Great show, but no anarchy up in the 2nd mezzanine where I was :(

May 10 2007 at 3:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kelly Reeves

but was it as good as this:
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2007/05/arcade_fire_nig.html ?

May 10 2007 at 11:28 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jht

You failed to mention that before the encore Butler returned to the stage and said "I've been a bad boy and I apologize to security." Now that's punk rock!

May 10 2007 at 11:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jim

they're so punk rock. /eyeroll

May 10 2007 at 11:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply