Arcade Fire

Another gig in Hyde Park. 5pm start so guess when the heavens opened in an otherwise lovely day? Yes 4 pm. Luckily only lasted 30 minutes or so and turned into a lovely evening.

I had enjoyed a leisurely lunch in my local pub which, on a Thursday lunchtime is really quiet. No surprise there I guess. I bought tickets for the following night's comedy performance (more anon) and then settled down to a pint and a lasagne with salad. Which was surprisingly good, even if I was watched throughout by the publican's dog, a huge white furry thing which looked like a cross between a wolf and a sheepskin rug. It eyed my lunch dolefully and I didn't fancy the result if it came to a fight for my beef lasagne. But luckily after a good stare it just settled down into sheepskin rug mode in front of me.

Then onto Hyde Park. so now for my customary reviews.

The Vaccines

First time I had seen this band, as they only have one album out so far. But really excellent short spiky guitar stuff, right up my street. 

Would have enjoyed a much longer set. In sharp contrast to.... 

Beirut

One of those bands supposed to be important. An inspiration to Mumford & Sons, who were to follow. No doubt fine musicians with an impressive brass section. But boring. A lady next to me, trying to be positive, referred to it sounding all like one song. Yes. An hour less of their set would have been nice.

Mumford & Sons

Back from a critically acclaimed set at Glastonbury (and cutely they said how much better it was playing here) this very talented band performed a long set with a large amount of new material, having no doubt played everything on their debut album, Sigh No More, to death. Great if you like this indie/folk cross over thing. The faster stuff works very well in my view, has the joie de vivre that that Beirut so lacked. But the stuff that falls more into the ballad category rather bored me.

Arcade Fire

But no such criticisms of Arcade Fire. Unlike the others on the bill I had seen them several times before, but this was the best. For those not aficionados, they are probably the best band that will ever come out of Canada. There are about 8 of them. I think there is a married couple in amongst them, a wonderfully demented percussionist, a massive variety of instruments (including electric violins and a hurdy gurdy machine), producing a wonderfully layered sound over the lead singer's rather strangulated vocals. An absolute joy to watch and listen to.