I once drove for five hours to see Arcade Fire. The year was 2013, and it was October 24, the same day the band released its album Reflektor for streaming, accompanied by visuals from the 1959 film Black Orpheus. As an overeager sophomore attending college in North Florida, I was more than happy to brave the perils of I-95 southbound if it meant grooving alongside Win Butler and company to their funkiest release yet. And Reflektor was everything then, a potent combination of the band’s introspective lyricism — in this particular instance, a reflection on the hazards of pervasive technology and the havoc they can wreak on relationships, all filtered through the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard — and producer James Murphy’s love of post-punk and disco, all unfolding under the watchful eye of album guest David Bowie.
As New Times reported at the time, the show was wonderful. Held at the Little Haiti Cultural Center, the band performed to a gaggle of costumed Miami freaks, working up a collective sweat that was soothed only by an uncharacteristically chilly tropical breeze. The show — only the band's second in Miami — was every bit as fun as "a mashup of Studio 54 and Haitian voodoo" could possibly be.
Then it was over. Despite a verbal promise to return to the city for the Reflektor tour proper, Arcade Fire never made it back to Miami’s shores.
Until last night. Making good on a four-year-old promise, the band performed to a vibrant crowd at the University of Miami’s Watsco Center on a tour stop promoting their latest album, July’s Everything Now.
If any Miamians were still salty about the wait, they didn’t show it. As the band kicked things off with the title track to Everything Now, the arena burst to life. The crowd was happy to not only see one of indie rock’s greatest touring acts, but to do so in such an intimate fashion. As mentioned by band member Tim Kingsbury in an interview with New Times, Arcade Fire is performing the Infinite Content tour in-the-round, bringing the bandmates closer to audiences than they’ve been for some time.
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