On Wednesday (March 14), Arcade Fire live premiered the double music video Money + Love (for the Everything Now tracks “Put Your Money On Me” and “We Don’t Deserve Love,” respectively) at New York’s Gramercy Theatre as part of Spotify’s Fans First series.
The evening started with a brief — and charmingly awkward — audience Q&A moderated by director Spike Jonze, during which fans could ask the band or music video director David Wilson anything at all (questions ranged from favorite ice cream flavor to March Madness brackets, to which Win replied, “I don’t have time to watch college basketball”) as they sat on navy blue suede couches surrounded by large plants. You guys didn’t pay for this, right?” frontman Win Butler questioned with a wry smile.
They went on to discuss Regine Chassagne’s work with the KANPE Foundation, which supports the most vulnerable Haitian families, and the band’s relationship with David Bowie. “He loved our band, he came every time we played New York in venues similar to this… though never this venue, were slightly too popular,” Win said, foreshadowing what was to come. “He was very hungry for art and life.”
But only once did Win muse “good question” after a fan asked how the band formed its friendship with Jonze. Win’s brother Will jumped in to explain that Nick from The Unicorns introduced them all following a show at The Troubadour as part of Arcade Fire’s Funeral tour.
After the 15-minute interview portion of the evening, Wilson spoke to the crowd about the videos they were about to see: “I’m most proud of how the film communicates how I know the band as people,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve worked with a band that’s as close.” He revealed the film, starring the band and Toni Collette, who plays the corporate villain, was shot over three days in Montreal and one day in California’s Death Valley.
The two-part film plays into the corporate concept that overshadowed much of Everything Now‘s album rollout, as it sees the band coming to Collette — a higher-up at the Everything Now Corp. — seeking to be saved from bankruptcy. Collette then introduces the band to it’s new game plan, complete with wacky promotional items like branded cereal boxes and gigs in casinos.
All the while, both songs’ meanings seem to shift; the lyrics no longer address a romantic partner as the line, “Put your money on me” comes across as a plea to the industry, while the lyric, “If you think I’m losing you you must be crazy” appears aimed at longtime fans. And when the video transitions into “We Don’t Deserve Love,” Win is shown walking alone on a desert road while the rest of the band has quite literally been brought down by the corporation.
But the melancholy mood doesn’t linger. As the film comes to a close and the end credits roll, the music to “Everything Now” suddenly booms out from the speakers. It was all too clear what would come next. The curtain drops, and there stands Arcade Fire in all its live glory.
The band dove into “Rebellion (Lies)” next, which prompted Jonze and Wilson to enthusiastically dance around on stage. Though Win followed the second song with a joking, “Goodnight, and thank you for coming,” the band ended up playing for more than an hour, as they ran through everything from fan-favorites like “Wake Up” to lesser-played tracks such as “Headlights Look Like Diamonds,” during which Win ?snaked through the tightly packed room.
True to form, Arcade Fire saved the best for last: a show-stopping medley of John Lennon, Radiohead and Bowie covers that, of course, ended with the cult-like chanting of “Wake Up” that Win fittingly followed with a call-to-action for gun reform by plugging March For Our Lives and saying, “Get off your fucking computer and get outside.”
Spike Jonze letting loose on stage with @arcadefire is very important content pic.twitter.com/1CWRIbWXo7
— Lyndsey Havens (@LyndseyAlana) March 15, 2018
View the full set list below.
“Everything Now”
“Rebellion (Lies)”
“Headlights Look Like Diamonds”
“Afterlife”
“Keep The Car Running”
“(Antichrist Television Blues)”
“Electric Blue”
“Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”
“Put Your Money On Me”
“We Exist”
“Creature Comfort”
“We Don’t Deserve Love”
“Everything Now” (acoustic)
“Mind Games” (John Lennon cover)
“Karma Police” (Radiohead cover)
“Oh! You Pretty Things” (David Bowie cover)
“Wake Up”