Tuesday 30th October 2007 Cardiff International Arena

Unless you’ve been trapped in a shed with no access to the popular music press, you’ll have noticed that Arcade Fire have spent most of the last 18 months crammed onto the cover of music magazines and being hailed as the most exciting band in the history of the universe. There are endless retellings of how David Bowie kept turning up at their shows and demanding to go on stage with them, and how U2 begged them to be their support band forever, and the time they made Lou Reed smile… Not bad for a gang of Quebecan Quaker look-alikes with a Talking Heads fixation.

Since the release of Neon Bible in March, Arcade Fire have toured extensively (this is their second lap of the UK in 2007), starting the year with 5-night stands in converted churches in London, Montreal and New York and finishing with a full-blown arena tour of the US and Europe. However, even though they’ve graduated to playing large, soulless venues like the CIA, their performance has lost none of its intimacy. OK, gone might be the days when the entire band trooped off stage and performed in the middle of the crowd, but the power and the intensity of the songs mean they remain very much in the audience’s faces.

Front man Win Butler, tonight dressed as an Amish Han Solo, takes centre stage but it’s the perpetual motion of the whole band that captivates. There were 10 of them on stage tonight and they all seemed to be vying for the audience’s attention. Whether they were swapping instruments, chucking tambourines and drums around or singing their lungs out regardless of whether they were near a microphone or not, it was all done with a boundless enthusiasm that it was impossible not to get caught up in. Arcade Fire know how to put on a show.

As you’d expect from a band that have been on tour all year it’s a tight performance, with a setlist that ebbs and flows from the punchy (but melancholy) crowd-pleasers from Funeral to the more downbeat (but still melancholy) head-nodders from Neon Bible. Stand out songs tonight included ‘Oceans of Noise’, ‘Tunnels’, ‘Keep the Car Running’, ‘No Cars Go’ and an explosive version of ‘Power Out’.

Special mention must be made of Win’s missus, Regine, who appeared to be having   the time of her life up there. The onstage screens seem to be dedicated to capturing her every move as she jumped from behind the drum kit, to the keyboard, to the tambourine, before taking on the lead vocals ‘Haiti’ and ‘In the Backseat’, with an enchanting voice, a little like Bjork in distress.

The band also obeyed the golden rule of gig etiquette: whip the crowd up into a frenzied sweaty mess and leave them wanting more. Closing the main set with ‘Rebellion (Lies)’ and the encore with ‘Wake Up’, two hands in the air, sing-a-long anthems that Bono would give his back teeth for, the crowd were in raptures.

At a time when the music magazines seem to have a new favourite band every month it’s easy to be dubious when a band gets as much hype as Arcade Fire have. But even the NME get it right sometimes; the Arcade Fire may well be the best live band around.

words by Andrew Griffiths with photography by Gareth Davies

to see more of Gareth's photos from the gig click here