Technician Online

May 5th, 2008

Arcade Fire, Superchunk rally for Obama

Carrboro, NC — Arcade Fire and Superchunk showed their support for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign Friday outside the Carrboro Town Center.

The bands played at a rally for Obama, encouraging attendees to vote at on-site stations.

Superchunk blistered through a set that included “Throwing Things,” “Hyper Enough,” “Detroit Has a Skyline.” Superchunk was lean, aggressive, and their veteran status showed. The crowd gave them a warm response, even if some of the younger crowd was not old enough to remember the band’s heyday in the mid-90s. It was evident Arcade Fire was the main draw, but throughout Superchunk’s set, many heads were rocking with acceptance.

After a quick transition and a talk from Arcade Fire’s Will Butler on the importance of voting and Obama’s campaign, the band started up with “Keep the Car Running.”

I’ve heard a lot about Arcade Fire’s concerts. They’re supposed to be incredible, communal experiences and this was true. The eight bandmates hustled around the stage, switching instruments between songs. All the while, the crowd sang along, clapped, swayed and danced. Frontman Win Butler was light on political banter, but said he wrote “Intervention” on the eve of the 2004 elections.

“I’d like to write a more upbeat song in a couple months,” he said.

Arcade Fire also aced a cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes,” and played through “Antichrist Television Blues,” “Haiti,” and “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)” before closing their set with “Rebellion (Lies).”

The band’s instrumentation and depth is what makes it so exciting. It would seem eight people balancing the sounds of a french horn and xylophones with distorted guitars and a hurdy-gurdy would be a mess, but it’s a powerful, enveloping sound. And they play with a rare enthusiasm and spontaneity.

They returned for one last song, an encore of “Wake Up,” again bringing the crowd to its dancing feet.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 1:41 am and is filed under Political Posturing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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