*****
The Montreal rockers may be mob-handed, and they may exude an air of abandon onstage, but there’s nothing disjointed about the sound blasting out across the park as they serve up a psychedelic, primordial soup. It doesn’t take long for the crowd (the biggest I’ve ever seen in this Rathfarnham setting) to be caught in the band’s gravitational pull.
A scorching afternoon is soundtracked by such Irish bands as Ham Sandwich and Tvvins, before second-headiner Pixies arrive with their bag of classics, including Wave of Mutilation, Gouge Away, Velouria, Here Comes Your Man and Where Is My Mind? This time, however, they have a fine new album, Indie Cindy, and tracks such as Bagboy, Magdalena 318 and Greens and Blues slot in nicely with the older stuff. The set comes to a sudden end after Tame when Black Francis's guitar gives up the ghost.
U2 come onstage to the sound of Where the Streets Have No Name. Actually, it is a fake band wearing papier mache heads. At each date on this tour, Arcade Fire pay a little backhanded tribute to their host town. Later we are treated to the bizarre sight of the pope tearing up a picture of Miley Cyrus to the strains of Sinéad O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2U.
Two days after their blistering Glastonbury headliner, you could forgive Arcade Fire for flying on autopilot for this show, but from the opening song, Normal Person, from the most recent ablum, Reflektor, the band are keen on keeping this show well above the ordinary, hitting the heights with such tracks as Rebellion (Lies), Rococo, The Suburbs, Ready to Start, Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) and No Cars Go.
"Let's go to church," says singer Win Butler, as the band hits into Intervention. That is followed by the hypno-disco beat of We Exist, the band's counterblast to the holy Joes who refuse to believe in human diversity. Butler's wife, Regine Chassaigne, comes to the front for Haiti, and weaves her Björk-ish vocals nicely with Butler's on It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus).
It gets trippier still with the encore, which includes the New Order-like Afterlife and the electrifying Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) and ends with the obligatory singalong on Wake Up. Awake? We've never felt more alive.
