Arcade Fire and the National Celebrate Easter in Chicago With Jelly Beans

Grammy winners Arcade Fire stopped in Chicago over the weekend and performed two nights of a three-night stint at U.I.C Pavilion, which made the shows the most in one single city on their current tour. As Spinner previously reported, two members of the band sang at Saturday's Cubs game and a live audio webcast was announced for Sunday's show. Luckily, Spinner experienced all of the glory in person.

Before Arcade Fire took to the stage, openers the National readied 10,000 fans with an hour-long set. "Happy Easter!" lead singer Matt Berninger shouted to the crowd. "I have jelly beans for everyone," he joked as he tossed only a handful of the candies to the front row. Arcade Fire's Win Butler dueted with the band during 'Start a War,' causing Berninger to quip, "He's much taller in real life."

As the anxious crowd awaited Arcade, a marquee above the stage read: "Coming Soon, Arcade Fire." Suddenly, the marquee turned into a two-part screen and another screen below projected text reading "feature presentation" which then morphed into a sign reading "Judgment Day 5/21/11." That sign set up Arcade's blitzkrieg openers, 'Month of May,' followed by 'Rebellion (Lies),' which featured multi-instrumentalist Will Butler running around the stage and pounding his drum like a mad man.

"Happy Easter," Win Butler told the audience. "We hid 50,000 hardboiled eggs." Sticking with the 'Funeral' theme, they performed 'Neighborhood #2 (Laika)' then eased their way into 'The Suburbs' songs 'City With No Children' and the slow-building 'Rococo.' After displaying religious images like a rose window during 'Intervention,' the faux marquee transitioned again to read, "Arcade Fire Presents the Suburbs."

Slow-motion footage of kids riding bikes moved across the screen as the band played the twangy title track. During Regine Chassagne's tropical number 'Haiti,' the crowd really got into the spirit with dancing and jubilant applause. "We like to compare crowds when we play different nights at the same place," Butler said to the crowd, insinuating they weren't "stoked" enough. "You still have a little bit of time to make up for it."

With that statement, the band blasted through the propulsive 'Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)' and ended with Chassagne twirling a streamer as they played 'Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).' Arcade Fire came back for a three-song encore including 'Ready to Start' and the anthemic 'Keep the Car Running.' Before they played their final song of the night, the band thanked the crowd for supporting Haiti, saying they should feel good about their contributions. The good vibes continued on 'Wake Up,' which conjured hands raised to the heavens, a mass sing-a-long and audience members dancing in the aisles with unbridled glee.

Arcade Fire Perform 'Month of May' in Chicago


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