Arcade Fire

3 July | Hyde Park

Six days after watching Arcade Fire deliver what surely should enter the Worthy Farm pantheon as one of its finest ever headlining performances, the decision to watch them again six days later in Hyde Park contained pitfalls.

After re-living the Glastonbury set on iPlayer and feeling the intense weight of a comedown fray emotions a tad, the temptation to watch a re-run and get somewhere close to the sheer euphoria of that Friday was far too tempting to turn down.

Playing as part of a series of events in Hyde Park called British Summer Time (BST), the stage featured a couple of trees framing its outline, perfectly complimented by the hot evening sunshine on what was by anyone’s standards a ludicrously apt day to watch live music. Arriving too late to catch the heavyweight support acts of Wild Beasts and Future Islands, the latter of which Crack was gutted to miss, we gave Jake Bugg’s ditties a wide berth before returning to get central for the main event. Wielding a bottle of wine, this was an altogether more civilized affair than Eavis’s field party, but we can’t be covered in mud while drinking moonshine all of the time.

After the now-customary appearance from the big-headed alter egos of the band known as The Reflektors came out to do their thing, you felt like there was still a bit of party left in the band after the Glastonbury victory. And with Win Butler announcing to the crowd that this was “maybe the last time”, the feeling that this one could be special was heightened, though opening with Normal Person – surely one of Refklektor’s weakest tracks from their last record – seemed like a ‘feel your way into this one’ kind of affair, But when Rebellion (Lies) swiftly followed, fervour became widespread. Rococco was a welcome addition to the setlist absent at Glastonbury and Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels) played out absolutely huge.

Dressed head to toe in the flashy white suits that complimented the outright rejection of the reclusive indie anti-hero status that they’ve projected on Reflektor, other moments included Rene Chassange dancing with a skeleton on a platform in the middle of the crowd during It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus) and a man in a full reflective suit during Afterlife.

The advantage of not being wrapped up in the emotion of the Worthy gig was that you could fully appreciate the musicality. Due to the regular instrument swapping, Arcade Fire gigs have always had a degree of on-stage raucousness, and there’s a semi-constant movement from all the main protagonists. But it’s the sheer entertainment value of each number being delivered like it’s the most life affirming musical experience of your life that makes this gig so glorious. New album numbers do this in varying ways, Reflektor with its disco-ball majesty and title track superiority, Afterlife with its fragility and Here Comes The Night with its unadulterated carnivalesque breakdown and canon inducing madness. It’s just fucking glorious hit after hit, so by the time the raw guitar of Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) and the ultimate hands in the air of Wake Up see us out, the affirmation of this band’s status has been cemented once more. The greatest band of this generation? No doubt. Please don’t let this be the last time.

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Words: Thomas Frost