chumptastic dot org

the arcade fire know how to put on a show: they held their large toronto shows at the danforth music hall (picture the bloor cinema, but with a big stage), they invited two of their very talented friends to open for them, and they had the show wrapped up by 11:30. oh, and they put on a killer show, as usual.

final fantasy went on first, and he wowed us again. he once again made good use of the overhead projector visual aids (a highlight: dinosaurs kissing while owen sang a heartfelt song), and violined and looped and kicked our asses. he played a couple of new songs (including one standout about magic the gathering), and his set was over far too soon…but not before busting out a cover of fantasy by mariah carey, featuring regine and gentleman reg. awesome.

up second were wolf parade, who borrowed tim from arcade fire for their set while their normal bassist was off treeplanting. i’m a fan of their two eps, and their performance was solid, but it’s surprising to me that they have two singers – they sound SO similar! they powered through a short and fun set, and then made way for the headliners.

arcade fire themselves burst out of the gate in typical fashion, featuring two percussionists beating the hell out of anything they could hit with their drum sticks…oh, and they featured 9 musicians! their set was typically high energy and fantastic, and they played much of funeral as well as two from their self-titled ep, and even threw in a new one. their encore, wake up, was a clear highlight: they invited dozens of people on stage and handed out tambourines and drum sticks, as though it was the by divine right show to end all by divine right shows. chromewaves is better with photography than i am, so if you wanna see for yourself, check out their visual evidence.

camouflage nights and arcade fire in one week? i think i’ve peaked…and i haven’t even moved to toronto yet.