The 22-minute AF special is filled with mad tribal drumming, neon-sign ceilings, Arcade Fire members dressed in white suits with flashy animal prints. It’s raccoon eyes on the sweaty dance floor all the way through the set with some dance beats that could have even come from some Haitian incarnation of Thriller on ‘We exist’? This jungle in a nightclub-discotheque look is kind of new for them, but apparently fitting with their new direction.
I actually liked the songs they played in the special better than the second one (‘Afterlife’) they did on SNL. ‘Here Comes the Night Time’ sounds really great and the last one, ‘Normal Person’, partly sung with totally retro outfits, has all the potential to be a killer live. This explosion of horns-guitars-keyboards-drums has reached a new bombastic punk-disco level.
Some of the cameos were odd, the humor quite bizarre, except Zach Galifianakis screaming ‘you don’t need three drummers’ which was actually funny… but I could have gone without it! The special was directed by Roman Coppola and apparently even Ben Stiller and Bono Showed up? Jeeez! Bowie, Bono, is there someone the Montreal band can’t get?