Arcade Fire, Hyde Park

From Arcade Fire

Today marked the start of a week that is going to be a veritable musical banquet. First off was Arcade Fire, taking advantage of the summer arena set up in Hyde Park for the Wireless Festival and other events. We had seen them towards the end of last year when they played at the O2. That had been quite an impressive performance, although their stage act had not really caught up with the scale of the venue.

But first, a few words about the support acts, which were possible Arcade Fire's own choice. We got to see some high energy performances for the Vixens, Beirut, and Mumford and Sons. The latter have really grown in stature since we saw them last year at Latitude, and are now more than capable of entertaining a large festival crowd on their own.

As an aside, the people who run the Hyde Park arena seem to have got drink vending off to a fine art, with the use of impressive production line techniques to serve beer rapidly to the masses. Unfortunately, the same organisers seem not to have realised that what goes in must at some point in time come out. That point came at the break between the support acts and the head-liners, when the queues for the loos reached epic proportions, thanks in part to woeful under-provision of male urinals, which would have freed up the portaloos for the ladies. In the end, many could not wait, with rather damp consequences for the ground around the perimeter fence.

Arcade Fire were with waiting for, and delivered an intense set that the appreciative crowd aah-ing and ooh-ing along with the bands more anthemic songs. Although their stage act is not particular elaborate, they still mange to keep up the interest levels by the constant rotation of band members from one instrument to another. A very versatile bunch indeed.

Arcade Fire seem much better suited to the ambience of the Hyde Park venue, as compared to the O2, and we went home thoroughly entertained.