ARCADE FIRE – LIVE AT THE MOHEGAN SUN ARENA

I will say the Mohegan Sun marketing team knows their stuff. I was offered tickets to the Arcade Fire show and thought, why not? They know I’ll spend a little money while there so it turns into a win-win situation. I had heard of Arcade Fire but couldn’t name a song of theirs. Opening act Boukman Eksperyans I hadn’t even heard of. Thankfully there was no work the following day or I might have skipped this one and that would have been my loss.

Boukman Eksperyans, a mizik rasin band from Port-au-Prince, Haiti led off the night with a lively 45 minute set that I found myself bopping along to. Co-lead vocalist Theodore “Lolo” Beabrun and his wife Mimerose “Manze” Beabrun said they want to bring joy and I say they succeeded.

Arcade Fire came out after a 45 minute stage change which I thought was a little too long. There was a DJ between acts so music was playing but I think some of the energy from the openers dimmed during the wait. Entering from the rear of the floor and walking through the crowd to get to the stage helped bring some energy back to the pit. The band started with “Age of Anxiety I”, “Ready to Start”, “Modern Man” and “Put Your Money on Me”. Lead singer Win Butler then walked through the crowd during “Afterlife” to sing a bit on the B stage before returning to the main stage.

The lasers and disco ball were lit up for “Reflektor”. “Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)” had the crowd singing and I noticed pockets of people dancing around the arena. “The Lightning I” and “The Lightning II” led into “Keep the Car Running” which brought out the giant balloon guys dancing to the music. “Month of May”, “The Suburbs”, “The Suburbs(Continued)” and “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)” were next. Vocalist and keyboardist Regine Chassagne, Butler’s wife, headed out to the B stage to sing “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”. “Everything Now” and “Rebellion (Lies)” closed out the main set.

One of the more impressive feats of the night was getting the whole band on the B stage for the encore. Butler and Chassagne were joined by Richard Reed Parry (Guitar), Tim Kingsbury (Bass), Jeremy Gara (Drums) and touring members, Sarah Neufeld (Violin), who wowed me all night long, Paul Beabrun (Keyboards), Dan Boeckner (Guitar) and Eric Heigle (Percussion). “End of the Empire I-III”, “End of the Empire IV(Sagittarius A*) and “Wake Up” closed out the night.

While it was one of the smaller crowds I’ve seen at the Mohegan the fans in attendance were treated to a fun filled night of great music. The joy Boukman Eksperyans brought followed through the Arcade Fire set. Now if only the joy went out onto the casino floor I would be writing this from an island instead of in my condo hearing snow may be on the way.

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To learn more about Arcade Fire, check out their website

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Stream music:  Spotify / Apple Music 

Purchase:  Amazon

 

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