Kevin Bronson on April 15th, 2014

0

Who: Arcade Fire on the Main Stage
In 3 or Fewer Words: Value-added viscera
Memorable Because: The Canadian indie-rockers were a stylist short of perfect in winding up Weekend 1 of Coachella on the big stage. They delivered their anthemic hits – expansive, earnest songs imbued with themes of community vs. isolation, love vs. loss and hope vs. cynicism – with true festival fervor. The Coachella veterans changed up some lyrics for the occasion (referencing a “field full of freaks and my friends” in “The Suburbs,” for instance) and offered a little proselytizing beyond that. Butler, dressed and painted as if he’d stopped by Burning Man on the way to Indio, took a swipe at the festival’s increasingly oppressive VIP culture and, acknowleding this year’s tsunami of desert EDM, saluted bands who are “still playing actual instruments.” Those comments didn’t come off as heavy-handed, at least no more so than Arcade Fire’s songs themselves, virtually all of which offered the big crowd a chance to raise their own voices in sing-alongs. Butler and company saved the best for last, bringing out the iconic Debbie Harry as a special guest and marrying their 2011 “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains” to the Blondie hit “Heart of Glass.” (Tip of the cap to mash-up geniuses The Hood Internet for their “Sprawl of Glass” from back then.) Then, as if to punctuate his comment about actual instruments, Butler welcomed New Orleans’ the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, who had been relegated to a 1:20 p.m. time slot earlier Sunday, for a rousing rendition of “Wake Up.” As the midnight curfew hit, the bands marched on to the Empire Polo Field to continue the party. For everybody who joined in, the power had gone out too soon.
What I’d Tell My Friend Who Was At Duck Sauce: You were hungry and mistook the name for a gourmet food truck, right?
– K.B. (Concert photography by Scott Dudelson)