Arcade Fire Chicago Concert Scheduled
Enjoying a bit more fame and a bigger tour schedule as a result of their win at the Grammy Awards this year, Arcade Fire Chicago concerts will take place over three nights at the UIC Pavilion April 22, 24 and 25, 2011. Tickets for the Arcade Fire Chicago concerts are now on sale.
The big surprise at this year's Grammy Awards was relatively low-profile Canadian indie rock band taking the top award for Album of the Year. "The Suburbs," Arcade Fire's third album, released last August, shocked the musical world when it took the top prize over industry heavyweights including Eminem, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. They were also nominated for best rock performance by a group and best alternative music album.
The Montreal-based indie rock band is known for its energetic, eclectic sound blended with intellectual and occasionally political lyrics.
Arcade Fire is noted for their wide use of instruments not normally associated with rock 'n' roll, including violin, cello, double bass, xylophone, viola, glockenspiel, accordion, harp, mandolin, French horn and even the hurdy-gurdy. Several of the band members play numerous instruments and switch duties during their shows.
The band is led by vocalist and guitarist Win Butler, his wife Régine Chassagne and brother Will Butler, plus Tim Kingsbury, Jeremy Gara, Sarah Neufeld and Richard Reed Parry.
Their first album, 2004's "Funeral," was based on the deaths of various band members' relatives. Tracks included "In the Backseat" and "Haïti."
For "Neon Bible" two years later, Arcade Fire actually purchased a derelict church near Quebec and refurbished it into a studio, and religious themes influenced the album. The band performed two songs, "Intervention" and "Keep the Car Running," during a "Saturday Night Live" appearance in 2007 that helped bring them mainstream awareness.
Breakout tracks from "The Suburbs" include the title song and "Month of May." The album is based on Win and William Butler's upbringing in Houston. Win told NME magazine the album "is neither a love letter to, nor an indictment of, the suburbs -- it's a letter from the suburbs."
The opening act for the concert is the National, an indie rock band from Cincinnati.
Posted on Mar 31, 2011 by Christopher Lloyd
