Image © Kyle Gustafson

It's probably not too much of a stretch to say that in D.C., the hipster crowd has been gazing towards Canada longingly a bit more than usual lately. They've got health care, clean cities, a lack of Texan presidents and goddammit, now they've got The Arcade Fire, the most buzzed about band in recent memory. We've never been to Canada, so we can't say with any certainty whether it lives up to any of the adulation that those who were so ready to leave America post-November 2nd heaped upon it. But of this we can assure you: The Arcade Fire's performance matched all of the hype and more.

Arriving the 9:30 Club at around 8 p.m., we grabbed a floor spot near the right of the stage and waited patiently, watching as the venue filled up to near capacity by the time the opener, Owen Pallett (aka Final Fantasy, worst band name ever), a twelve year-old Canadian violin player, stepped on stage. Okay, so he wasn't really twelve, but with his hair in a bowl cut, wearing a button-down Oxford shirt and khakis, he looked like for all the world like he'd just rolled down Mass. Ave from St. Albans. But Pallett's delicate tunes, comprised of evocative melodies recorded over one another in layers and layers until there was a wall of sound, were a lovely surprise. And he was somewhat charming in that whole Hugh Grant, shaggy-haired, self-deprecating way that's really total bullshi--what's that? You want to make out with us? Really? Wow. Um. Okay! Just keep saying "aboot."

By the time The Arcade Fire took stage, the audience was primed, ecstatic and ready for some Montreal goodness. And we weren't disappointed. The opener of the set was "Wake Up," a powerful, climatic song off of "Funeral" that's almost chorus-like in its vocals; with all eight musicians onstage singing fervently and playing their slew of instruments in various chaotic manners, it felt like a bizarre indie rock opera.

The theatrics continued on with "Laika," during which, inexplicably but still totally awesomely, motorcycle helmets were donned, walls were scaled, and everything including amps, railings and body parts became tools of percussion. Things mellowed out a bit towards the middle of the show, when the band played "No Cars Go" and "Headlights Look Like Diamonds" from their earlier EP, and a couple of new songs called "Intervention" and "Burning Bridges." Truth be told, we weren't a huge fan of the new material, which seemed a little conventional, but hopefully with time and good production they'll turn into something more memorable.

During the 90-minute spectacle, the eight members switched instruments, mimicked fistfights, raced around stage and managed to balance tremulous vocals (singers are married couple Win Butler, a mournful vocalist from Texas and Regine Chassagne, who can affect near-Bjorkian theatrics with her lilting voice) with bombastic, driven melodies. And the crowd ate it up. We have to say, we have never seen an audience so swept away and maniacal during the songs, yet so rapt and silently respectful in between. "You might be the most polite crowd we've had during this tour," Butler smiled near the end of the set. "And that's gotta stop right now." The group then launched into the best part of the night - an explosive version of "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" that melted into "Rebellion (Lies)", which had the entire audience screaming the chorus as forcefully as the band.

The Arcade Fire's encore was an exquisite mix of gorgeously dense instrumentation, with "Crown of Love," "Tunnels," and in what may have been the loveliest performance of the night, a slow, emotionally building version of "In the Backseat," which ended with the band lining up, filing out through the crowd, up to the second floor, and into their dressing room, playing their instruments and singing all the while. Even as the house lights went up and people drifted away, the band was still going, letting the song linger, floating out the doors and up into the cold night sky.

In short: the best concert we've seen at the 9:30 Club since we saw Radiohead there in '97, and that's saying something.

A round-up of reaction from the D.C. blogosphere (and you know the blogosphere don't lie):

The winner of the DCist Arcade Fire ticket giveaway, Lauren, posts her account of the show. You're welcome!

DCist Kyle at Information Leafblower (with more pictures): I walked out of the venue wondering why all concerts aren't like theirs. And by that I mean here is a band putting on a show, an event, an experience.

Matt Yglesias: Saw them play a show tonight and I was seriously skeptical that they – or anyone for that matter -- could live up to the hype. But they do.

Shesbitter.com (with photos, and a link to an mp3 of "Intervention"): the show was just pretty damn fantastic, and in my book at least, they lived up to all the hype i've heard about them live, regardless of what you think of the music itself.

If you've got thoughts about the show, leave comments here or trackback to this post. And for you non-Arcade-Fire-obsessed people, you can exhale: we'll finally stop talking about them. At least until their next CD.

The above three images © Catherine Andrews