Arcade Fire
Local Natives
1st Bank Center, Broomfield, Colorado
April 9, 2011
I have become an instant Local Natives fan after seeing them with Arcade Fire. Their songs are rich with sustained 3 part harmonies that I’m a huge sucker for. A visit to their website reminds me of the old website of Sleeping in the Aviary. The graphics are complete nonsense, but in a laughable way that sticks with you. As they took the stage, the lead singer said he couldn’t sleep last night. Another of the other band memebers had the same problem. He thought it was because this was their first time playing with Arcade Fire. My friend Peter played their Gorilla Manor cd on the way to the concert. He hadn’t gotten tickets to their sold out show in Denver, so he drove 8 hours to Omaha, Nebraska to see them, then drove back home, after purchasing the cd. He let me borrow it, but it was obviously sentimental to him, he insisted I not forget to bring it with me the next time I saw him.
At their show, opening for Arcade Fire, they played much of the material off this album, including Warning Signs (I love the melody to the lyrics “I’ve got money now”), Shape Shifter (“like you’re pulled by the moonlight somehow”) and Cards & Quarters.
They closed with “Sun Hands,” which is at first calm and melodic, but in the middle of the song, it shifts from the lead singer repeating the lines “And when I can’t feel with my sun hands, I promise not to leave her again” to a near yelling with the full band, and after that is over, a driving guitar riff picks up where the singers leave off.
The song Airplane brought tears to my eyes. The lyrics at first made me think that it’s another broken-hearted song, until the closing line when I was reminded of my departed grampas and my dad, instead of an ex. I love everything about this song, especially the sticks on the rim.
It sounds like
We would of had a great deal
To say, to say,
To each other
I bet when
I leave my body for the sky
The wait, the wait,
Will be worth itI love it all
So much I call
I want you back, back, back
You back
Their oldest song (and probably my second favorite) Who Knows Who Cares”, was inspired by a tour in Colorado, and promise to have a new album out the next time they roll our way. The wait will be worth it.
Official video:
Update:
8 May 2011
When I posted the official video, I had seen this one, but I’m annoyed by the minute-plus of junk at the beginning. It’s really cool though, the way the musicians enter the scene, as they do in the song. Thanks Katie, for reminding me.
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