What? No “Antichrist”? Twenty minutes from Ground Zero.
1. Ready to Start – Falls between the cracks on the album, a bit of a nonstarter.
2. Neighborhood #2 (Laïka) – I keep forgetting that I don’t much like Funeral. Sounds like Talking Heads. Bad Talking Heads.
3. No Cars Go – People love this song, sunk without a trace on Neon Bible for me.
4. Haiti – I like his wife enough to nod my head to the organ notes and move on.
5. Half Light II (No Celebration) – Undeniable portent of epicness.
6. Rococo – I would love to hear this on MTV Unplugged. Another great song from their best album to date. Love the first line about modern kids…
7. The Suburbs – The best song they’ve ever written? No, that would be “(Antichrist Television Blues)” which they are pathetically not playing tonight -unless they change their mind. Still, this is one of the most moving songs Wim has written. A tribute to, not the Suburbs… to growing up? To loss?
8. The Suburbs (Continued) – See above except for the bits about Antichrist.
9. Crown of Love – I like the strings a lot.
10. Intervention – “A soldier dies” Ugh.
11. We Used to Wait – Love that piano hook all the way through it.
12. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) – Somewhere between an indie rocker and a screech
13. Rebellion (Lies) – Helluva lotta stuff from Funeral while Neon is shortchanged. One of the best but. “Every time you close your eyes, lies lies” -we’ll be singing along to this.
14. Month of May – OK, now the set is getting ready for the long haul. A killer rocker off the newbie. Sounds a bit Bowie-ie
15. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) – One of their great moments -before the encore? A great choice -the conclusion of a three song build to the encore.
Encore:
16. Keep the Car Running – One of their greatest song. Single handedly changed my mind about the band.
17. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) – Dunno about this, Idda flipped em. Better than “Haiti” anyway.
18. Wake Up – Into the night with one of their most popular songs… those close harmonies to open it are gorgeous.
So, three hours plus before I see em, here is my assumption. Starts flat and lulls in the middle but pays off big at the end.