By Kirstin Lynn
Enlisting a golden ticket mentality amongst fans, The Reflektors hyped it right for two sold out shows at Glasgow’s Barrowlands, in a masquerade occasion, more talked about than their contemporaries gracing another two of the city’s major venues last night.
Bundling on to the stage of the venue in their masses, the ‘fancy dress or dress fancy’ ruling was adhered to by their scrubbed up Scots who packed-out the legendary ballroom. Counting a nine strong cast, but something missing, spindly front man, Win Butler, appeared on stage masked, with late white rabbit mutterings of, ‘Excuse me, excuse me, you said nine o’clock,’ keeping on trend with the band’s current number 9 obsession that’s keeping speculation high.
Introducing the quirky Canadian-via-Haiti outfit as their pseudonymous alter-egos tonight, The Reflektors lurched into an energy splurging Normal Person with a leaping recurring chorus that had the Barrowlands bouncing without warm up. This was led by Butler’s other half, Régine Chassagne, and two percussionists who thrust pom poms in the air in-between battering bongos that set the rich percussive soundscape which remained relentless throughout the performance.
Rather than scrape fans from the ceiling, Arcade Fire cemented them further amongst the specially set circus bulbs and disco balls, with a thunderous Wake Up, that could easily have been heard echoing down the outdoor corridors of Glasgow’s East End. Soaring through the set as one incredibly powerful and tightly-coiled entity, the band inject something into their eccentric and ever-revolving stage that ensures it is enriched in escapism, and audience-involvement.
Surfing and turfing instruments around the stage, the multi-talented and mighty ten rollicked through their latest offering with strong influences from their extinct friends, LCD Soundsystem, the sound palate and team mentality spilling across the stage, similar to Refelektor producer James Murphy’s own performance on that very stage, in their farewell show several years ago. In the live setting this new album really prospers, quickly convincing anyone who had their doubts to ditch their reservations and delve into voodoo dance.
Blindfolds, giant paper mache heads and confetti cannons were all thrown in to the Saturday night carnival for good measure, in a spectacular occasion worth gaining chafe marks from all the sequin abrasion amongst the dressed-up and ever undulating crowd.
Arcade Fire played this one in style. What next from the act that keep on giving when they swell to take on their American arena tour next year?
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