One thing clearer after Wednesday's Arcade Fire concert – besides the fact that parking prices triple when there's a Wild game next to a concert – is how many of the band's songs are thematically interwoven, and not just divided up by album. All the shady-lane lyrics in the "Neighborhood (Requisite Parentheses)" songs fit in perfectly alongside tunes from "The Suburbs." The stage's highway/overpass/billboard backdrop not only suited the blah-landscape themes, but it also added to "No Cars Go" and "Keep the Car Running." It sure would have been nice to have "Antichrist Television Blues" and "Windowsill" from "Neon Bible" also in that mix (they too fit the themes, and are two of their best songs, period). As I wrote in our full concert review, it was also pretty disappointing they conspicuously skipped the top two songs from "The Suburbs." They haven't been playing those songs in other cities, though. It begs the question: Would you rather have the band be full-on, sharp and focused for 90 intense minutes, or see them drag out the show more and possibly drag butt to add more songs? Win Butler only made a few generic comments between songs, including one about being happy to kick off the fall tour here and another thanking fans for the $1-per-ticket donation to Haiti causes. Before "Neighborhood #3," he did a little crowd-rousing: "I know you have to work tomorrow. We gotta work, too. But show me something in this one." Like nearly everything else in the show, it worked. Here's the set list: Ready to Start / No Cars Go / Haiti / Rococo / Neighborhood #2 (Laika) / Modern Man / Deep Blue / The Suburbs / Intervention / We Used to Wait / Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) / Rebellion (Lies) / Month of May / Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) / Keep the Car Running ENCORE: Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) / Suburban War / Wake Up
