Well, if our killer review of Wednesday’s Arcade Fire show at MSG wasn’t enough, Thursday’s show was webcast with special direction from Terry Gilliam. The videos speak for themselves, but one moment of note came in the encore when the drum machine failed during “The Sprawl II” and Win Butler stopped the song after a complete verse and chorus. “This is fucking live music” he announced, “and we’re gonna start this song again because it is a fucking beautiful song and you are going to tell everyone about that you saw the Arcade Fire play a minute of a song and then start it over and it was the most incredible thing (quote possibly butchered, as it was taken from memory).
The song still didn’t go perfectly, with the lead vocals sounding thin and in need of some effects, but Butler walked to his wife Regine Chassagne and sang with her into her mic, then planted a surprise kiss on her cheek, somehow making everything okay. Some things are more special than how a song sounded.
Enjoy these clips:
