arcanadian fire lights up big tent

I was looking around the interweb for reviews of last nights Arcade Fire concert. Well actually I was looking for some photos of it for this blog. I made my first foray into gig photography and managed to take three of the shittest photos ever. I was going to publish them here but they really are that shit that I just deleted them instead.

Let's get to the gig itself. I was too busy having a few scoops in the local, the Hole in the Wall, to make it to any of the support stuff. Instead it was straight in and five minutes later the crowd were rocking to the first tune, Black Mirror. They proceeded to rock on and played most of 'Funeral' and 'Neon Bible'. There was bit of banter with the audience every now and again but they mostly did what they do best. That would be looking like a bunch of Pilgrim Settlers who took fashion tips from Boy George and my granddad. Fortunately when it comes to playing their music live they did that very well. Although a few people had a different experience the sound was great where I was standing.

I was standing beside two aul lads who were at least sixty years apiece. They were well into it. It's refreshing to see that bands like Arcade Fire still have such mass appeal. One of my main memories of the night was the overwhelming smell of freshly shampooed barnets. Everyone washed their hair for the gig except me. Another thing that struck me was the height of the Irish populace. I never really notice how tall Irish people are until they're standing in front of me at a gig. Blokes who I'd consider the same height as me suddenly become six inches taller. Maybe it was the undulating land or maybe I'm shrinking.

The atmosphere at the gig was akin to a football match. Lots of tribal singing and arms aloft. It was a bit like going to see Bohs play except with several thousand more people and better entertainment on offer. I liked Arcade Fire. I've searched for the last half hour for photos of last nights gig but my search capabilities are obviously limited. Here's a photo of Limahl instead.

the calm before the storm

There was a silent protest of sorts in the Phoenix Park tonight. Arcade Fire played the first of their two gigs here in Dublin. The gig is taking place about 800m from my house as the crow flies. They must be doing an acoustic set because I haven't heard a bloody thing all night. Of course when Robbie Williams was playing a couple of years ago in the park I couldn't drown the sound out for love nor money. It's an awful feeling, standing in your kitchen and hearing the fucker sing 'Angels' and not being able to turn him off.

I'm going to the Arcade Fire gig tomorrow so it will be interesting to hear how it went tonight. On a separate note I've been strolling around town over the last few days and there's a proliferation of posters about the place advertising 'A celebration of the Russian Revolution'. If you're into ice picks in the back of the head, salt mines, mass extermination and queueing for bread then this is the event for you.

Finally, I've just watched Arsenal win 7-0 in their Champions League match against Slavia Prague. I was really embarrassed for the Czech team who were pretty close to useless. I put €20 on Arsenal to win the Premiership this season but I've already got €20 worth of value out of them and its still only October. I only started supporting them 27 years ago because a bloke walked into school with a red over the shoulder plastic Arsenal bag with 'The Gunners' emblazoned on it. Thank you Graham Doolin.