Un Deux Trois Dis Mirroir Noir!

Great two nights of music along the Wasatch Front. First the New Pornographers, then Arcade Fire. I've been listening to Arcade Fire since before they were even a band (so hip am I) and when I saw that they were playing their first ever Utah show I was so excited that I actually said "Hey, neat." Better still, opening the show was the acclaimed LCD Soundsystem.

Weirder still, the show was at the Waterfall Amphitheate at Thanksgiving Point, typically home to adult contemporary and slow-country acts [EDITOR'S NOTE: venue was chaged at last minute from Waterfall Amphitheatre to "a field."] I'm not sure where Thanksgiving Point came from, but it has a golf course and a cost-prohibitive public garden and a movie theatre and you can buy hand-crafted candy canes there. Technically Thanksgiving Point is in Lehi, a town I've hated for so long that I can't even remember why. Maybe it's because the movie Footloose was filmed there and the song "Footloose" is the worst song there's ever been.

The drive from Salt Lake County to Utah County was long and arduous. Ooh I hate that drive. Traffic was at a near standstill almost the whole way. I figured there was an accident or construction ahead, but nothing. Just the daily march out of town. Got there and Emily and I waited in line surrounded by hipsters in their strip-ed shirts and tighted pants. After being groped by security, like seriously molested, we went in and no sooner had we found an acceptable place to stand then the music started. 7pm sharp, right on time.

How to describe LCD Soundsystem? Electro-funk? Dance-punk? That makes them sound sucky. They're not sucky. They're good. If you like sick grooves and mad beats they are not to be missed. Just make sure to bring your dancing shoes (I had forgotten mine).

The singer for LCD is actually just a holographic projection.

Beautiful crisp fall night.

LCD's singer/mastermind James Murphy pointed out that he was getting the better end of the deal because we were all looking at the stage but he got a nice view of the orange mountains behind us. It's true. Those mountains were glorious. I didn't have the wherewithal to take a picture of them though.

I liked this guy. Nice and personable. Great show, full of dancy sonic madness.

During LCD Soundsystem Tai and Kirsten found us (they have a blog, now linked to over there>>>>>>>>)

Between acts we set off a wanderin' hoping to find some of our friends that we knew would be there. Didn't see everybody but I did meet an old internet friend and we spent some time talking about our internet cats.

(copywright: meh, 2007)

Also found Judy and Kylie, two characters from my life you've probably heard of.

The show started with looped footage of different public-access televangelists playing on four round screens. These went on for a while and the sound built up into a cacophony while the images slowly faded into the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible logo.

What do I love? NEON! And it was everywhere! In in in REDS!

and also blues!!!

all this lights and muzix is melting mines brain!

Um yeah, anyway. They opened with "Black Mirror," the first track on Neon Bible. Amazing! Ten musicians on stage, running around switching instruments as needed, banging on drums and symbols and throwing tambourines and playing a pipe organ and singing into bullhorns and filling the air with triumphant anthems.

Singer Win Butler said it was great to play here and revealed a Utah connection. His grandfather used to take him fishing in the mountains over yonder.

He jumped a line on the song "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)." "I went out into the nigh---ah shit." I like a band that's still loose enough to make mistakes.

Win's wife Regine Chassagne has such an incredible stage presence. Cool voice too. Also she plays the accordion and the hurdy-gurdy.

I couldn't get a clear picture so I'm borrowing one from The Salt Lake Tribune. Hope they don't mind.

(credit: Chris Detrick/The Salt Lake Tribune)

These guys were fun to watch too. The blurry guy on the right is Win Butler's brother William. I wish I had his energy. He runs around like a crazy man.

Also, cute violinists.

They played almost everything from the new album but found room for the highlights off Funeral too. They closed the main set with "Revolution (Lies)." That song is in my itunes Top 100 Favorite Songs playlist and is also featured on my myspace page which I never go to. Encore was "Old Flame" and the soul-stirring "Wake Up."

What a show. I can't really compare it to New Pornographers because I have so much more of an emotional connection to their music, but still. What's the point of comparing anyway? This isn't a contest. The only winner is me.