The Sprawl

We saw/heard Calexico and Arcade Fire last night! Wow, what a great show. We wiggled, foot tapped, and eventually rocked out with our fellow Seattleites in a giant basketball arena. Beside the throngs of 20-30 year olds, there were many multi-generational families; the kids, the parents, and the grandparentsjoined forces last night.

Calexico is a rockin' "southwestern" band of guitars and trumpets. We loved it.
Arcade Fire is amazing. It's like they are already legendary. How do they know exactly what it's all about and then project that feeling through music in such a perfect way? consistently over the last ten years?! sigh....

I love their new album "The Suburbs" and I loved hearing all the new and old songs played together in one night. The songs all flow together so well. I love their themes of growing up, neighborhoods, and friends. They perfectly capture that fiery feeling of wanting to bust out and do something but you're still figuring out what that something is.
Arcade Fire really fits the description of good art being like a mirror; everyone can identify with what they produce, though it is slightly different for each person.
They put on a great show, too. The stage backdrop was a picture from under a freeway overpass, so it felt like we had all met up under the freeway in the suburbs to hear them play. They had great video clips taken from old silent films, kids hanging out, and live black and white footage of the band playing - but it was instantly processed in a high contrast way that gave it a gritty, old movie feel.
They are so cool....