• Arcade Fire @ 3Arena, Dublin

    April 10, 2018 - By 

    Having played a massive show at Malahide castle last year, Arcade Fire return with the Infinite Content tour, sardonically named to jibe at the social media age, just one of the many tactics deployed throughout the promotion around their current album, Everything Now. Tonight, in keeping with that off kilter theme they’ve created a show ‘in the round’ – complete with a boxing ring and Michael Buffer style announcements of their accolades as they appear from the far corner of the 3Arena, air-punching alongside flashing ironic graphics of infomercials and ‘tale of the tape’ biographies appear on the 360 degree…

  • Arcade Fire – Everything Now

    August 4, 2017 - By 

    The most troubling time in anyone’s life is adolescence. And often, insecurities born during this time are masked by either acts of defiance or retreat as a way of coming to terms with the transitional phase. It is important then to note that Arcade Fire released their debut, Funeral, 13 years ago. Prior to the release of Everything Now, the fifth studio album from the Canadian band, they engaged in several viral marketing campaigns, each news story or act as incredulous as the last, all garnering substantial media coverage. It began with a fake Twitter profile presented under the guise of…

  • Arcade Fire announce 2018 UK and Ireland tour

    July 20, 2017 - By 

    Arcade Fire have announced a short string of headline dates in the UK and Ireland for 2018 with each show set to be performed “In The Round”. Though it may feel like they only just left, having won hearts in Belfast and Dublin in June (read our report here), the Montreal troupe will be returning to Dublin on April 6 to play in centre of the 3 Arena. Tickets go on sale on Friday July 28 at 9am. To get a taste of what such a show might look like, take a peek at the video below of their “In The Round”…

  • Irish Tour: Arcade Fire

    June 16, 2017 - By 

    Canadian indie trailblazers Arcade Fire live at Belfast’s Belsonic and Dublin’s Malahide Castle. Words by Jonny Currie and Robert Higgins; photos by Colm Laverty and Aaron Corr. Belsonic, Belfast Photos by Colm Laverty After previous failed attempts to attract Arcade Fire to Belfast, the Montreal nine-piece kick-off this year’s Belsonic line-up ahead of the release of fifth album Everything Now. The long-overdue visit is acknowledged by frontman Win Butler, revealing that they have chosen to spend the last three days in Northern Ireland. Landfill indie trailblazers The Kooks resurface this evening in support, gurning and yelping through an hour of turgid…

  • Primavera 2017

    June 8, 2017 - By 

    After 16 years, there’s no doubt that Primavera is Europe’s premier festival, for everyone from the capped-up indie kids to right-on middle-agers seeking some escapism, from the techno heads on through to High Fidelity type nerf herders and vinyl hoarders. So: how does Europe’s best music festival follow up on a last year’s best-ever edition – a mammoth lineup topped by Radiohead. Well, partially through sticking with what works – every sub-genre well catered for and then some, and not just on the three main days at Parc del Forum, but in venues across the city in the preceding weeks.…

  • Arcade Fire Set for Belfast and Dublin

    February 13, 2017 - By 

    To say the 2017 Irish Summer festival calendar is already bursting at the seams with unmissable shows would be underselling it a bit. Adding to the is the highly-anticipated return of Arcade Fire, who play Belfast’s Belsonic at Ormeau Park on Tuesday, June 13 and Dublin’s Malahide Castle on Wednesday, June 14. With special guests to be confirmed, tickets for the shows go on sale at 9am this Friday priced £45 including booking fee for Belfast and €69.50 (inc. booking fee) for Dublin.

  • Isolation and Release: An Interview with Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld

    November 4, 2016 - By 

    Both in her solo output and work as a member of Arcade Fire, Sarah Neufeld has long established herself as one of the world’s most forward-thinking, consistently singular violinists. Ahead of the only Irish date of her current European tour at Belfast’s The MAC on Monday (November 7), the Canadian chats to Brian Coney about collaboration, virtuosity, writing on the road and what to expect from Arcade Fire’s forthcoming fifth studio album. Hi Sarah. Your second album, The Ridge, is a wonderful release. Congratulations. What was the writing process like for this release, especially compared to Hero Brother? Thanks! I wrote The Ridge in a more…

  • Arcade Fire, Pixies @ Marlay Park

    July 1, 2014 - By 

    The first of the Marlay Park summer shows kick off with the rather unusual pairing of Arcade Fire and Pixies. The chamber-pop grandness of Arcade Fire is a world away from the alt-rock rawness of Pixies, and so there seems to be two divisions of fans among the crowd; those for Pixies and those for Arcade Fire. Not that this led to any trouble or violence of course; it merely creates an atmosphere where some fans appear somewhat uninterested in half the show. Pixies bring  their manic alt-rock to the stage with plenty of gusto and hit home from the off…