Well they say a picture tells 1000 words and the photos below begin to show the colourful, energetic carnavale that was Arcade Fire's concert at the Sydney Entertainment. I was very excited for this concert, I love Arcade Fire their new album Reflektor is fantastic and has been on high rotation since I got it. This gig was truly an amazing experience, living up to my expectations and will definitely be a tough one to top. The curtain rose to an empty stage with the band playing a stripped down version of Neon Bible's My Body Is a Cage from all corners of the arena, making their way through the crowd to the stage.  With 10 musicians on stage the sound was fantastic and full but every instrument was audible, I really don't think I've been to an arena show that has sounded this good. The band had two Haitian percussionists with them who's mirror ball congas really fit in great with the carnavale feel, this concert had.


Arcade Fire utilised the power of a good set list to create the energetic tone for the evening kicking things off with Reflektor and Flashbulb Eyes from their new album followed by the crowd favourite that never seems to grow old Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) before moving back to the new album to play the punchy Joan of Arc. From this point Arcade Fire had 100% of the audiences attention giving them space to play the more pensive and brooding numbers such as Ocean of Noise, Afterlife and Normal Person. Everything about this show was large; the sound, the great light display as well as three giant 3-dimensional mirrors that would change position through the songs to reflect light and colour back at the audience.


The remainder of the set included among others No Cars Go, Keep the Car Running, Devil Inside (an INXS Cover) and an encore that included Ready to Start and Wake Up, which though they are off older albums were really played with the same energy and carnavale-spirit as the newer songs, leaving the audience on a spectacle-fuelled high, of course being showered in ticker-tape confetti also really helped!