The Wishing Well

(This entry is really very long, and I wrote it to remember everything that happened on June 1st.)

3:17pm

I got on the Richmond BART train headed for Berkeley. First time ever riding the train by myself. It was pretty uneventful.. I was too excited about the concert to be thinking about anything else.

4:00pm

Arrived at Berkeley, and met Lloyd, Stevie, and Alex at the ATDP office in Tolman Hall. I paid Alex for my concert ticket (thanks again, Alex! :D) and we took a quick group picture before heading out.

4:30pm

At the Greek Theatre... a line had already started forming! Luckily, we were close to the front of the line. Poor Stevie.. she had this HUGE spider bite on her right hand. It was all swollen. :( And she was hungry! But we couldn't find a place to buy food, so Lloyd bought us vitamin water and Milano cookies. :) Someone gave us a map of the Greek showing where concession stands, restrooms, etc. were. Stared at that for a long time while we were waiting. Saw a guy with a "I Need Tickets" sign standing on the sidewalk. He ended up getting one for $25. XD We overheard a lot of conversations.. mostly people talking about how there wasn't enough parking and there was a line on the other end of the theatre (we were on the north side). We heard AF doing sound checks and playing songs.. I was happy to just stand outside and listen. :)

6:30pm

We thought we were going to be let in at this time, but we weren't... so I was looking up into the place where we enter the Greek and I saw a bunch of tech/staff people walking around... and then there was this one guy who didn't look like either of those because he was eating a popsicle! So I turned to Stevie and said, "Hey look, there's someone in there! That dude with the popsicle!" and a second later some guy in the line said, "Hey look, there's RICHARD REED PARRY!" ::LOL:: He's a member of the band, rofl. xD

7:00pm-ish

After 2 1/2 hours of waiting in line... they finally let us in! Lloyd almost lost his ticket. D: That was scary. It fell out of his pocket or something. We thought we lost him. :/ But he ended up finding it (thank goodness)! We chose seats on the second row of stairs since we didn't want to be so close to the stage that our necks would be hurting the next day. Here's where we were sitting in reference to the picture Lloyd posted on his weblog a couple days ago, and here's the one of us in the crowd, taken by whalesharque on Flickr. Someone was blocking Alex, though. :/

Everyone was sitting, eating, going to the bathroom, taking pictures, checking out the merchandise. The stuff was really expensive (shirt was $25, according to Alex), but the shirts and posters looked really nice. I noticed two of my classmates from Hopkins sitting a couple rows behind us! I don't know them that well.. but a couple minutes later, one of them said they recognized me, so it was all good. XD

8:00pm

The concert starts. Right on time. Electrelane was the opening band... I thought a lot of their songs sounded the same, and I wasn't really paying much attention because I couldn't wait for AF to come on stage. They played too many songs, in my opinion. A lot of the people in the crowd were starting to wonder if AF was ever going to play.

8:45pm

Electrelane finishes playing. Some random dude barfed. O_o Too much drinking for him. XD A bunch of tech people came on stage and were testing the mics and instruments. It looked like AF wasn't going to be there for a while, so Stevie went to go talk to her friend, and Alex, Lloyd, and I sat down. Mistake. Never sit down at a concert when almost everyone else is standing up. Some dude spilled his beer on me. :( Ew. My sweater went straight to the wash today. xD

9:30pm-ish

The lights are dimmed. Everyone starts yelling and whistling. The Arcade Fire walks on stage! More yelling and whistling. They had four circular video screens (plus one on the drums) that projected a black and white video on, and they had the neon bible in red light on the curtain in the back, as seen here. They played an evangelist clip at the beginning with some woman talking.. couldn't really make out what she was saying because everyone was cheering so much.

The music starts...

Black Mirror: The band members got in place, and I remember the violinists starting out.. then all the instruments came in and Win was going crazy with his guitar. All the bad smells and the cold seemed to disappear as the music boomed out into the crowd. I didn't really know all the lyrics to Black Mirror.. but I sang along anyways. I saw Alex and Lloyd singing, too! Of course Stevie was practically yelling, like I was. :) "Mirror, mirror, on the wall... show me where them bombs will fall.."

Keep the Car Running: Everyone was still screaming after Black Mirror and while they were tuning their instruments. They got all of us clapping.. I was trying so hard to sing along with the band that my clapping would get out of time. Or my singing got out of tune. It really didn't matter since everyone else was singing, too. "They know my name 'cause I told it to them, but they don't know where and they don't know when.. it's cooooominggg.. whennnn it's coooooominggg.."

No Cars Go: Oh my god. You should've seen the look on Lloyd's face when this song started. XD It was so priceless. They shone this yellow-ish light on the audience when everyone said "HEY!" at the same time. This is one of my favorite songs.. and it seemed like a lot of people knew the lyrics to this one, as opposed to the first two. "HEY! Us kids know... HEY! No cars go... where we knooow!" ... "LET'S GO!" Crazy violin-ing.

Neighborhood #2 (Laika): Ahahaha. Two songs in a row that us four were crazy about! :D "ALEXANDER! OUR OLDER BROTHER!" I know all the lyrics to this song from reciting them in Pchat.. :P This song starts out kinda quiet on the album, and I always have to turn it up.. but live? LOUD. And way more energetic. :D By the sound of it, everyone else knew the lyrics to this song, too. "Oouuuur mooootherr shoooooouuld have.. juuust named you Laaaaiiikaaaaaaa!" The drummer was hitting the helmet, which was on one of the lighted poles.. and he knocked it over. XD "It's for the neighborhoood.. the neigh-bor-hood.."

Haiti: Okay.. so this wasn't one of my favorites before today. But Regine put on an awesome performance. All the dancing and stuff... she's so fun to watch. All the people playing instruments were jumping around in the back. Especially Will Butler. I think he was hitting the drums with his electric guitar? XD I dunno. And Regine just collapsed at the end! And the lights went out.

Black Wave/Bad Vibrations: One of the less known songs, I guess. But I like it. More of Regine's crazy dancing/acting. Richard Reed Parry was playing this huuge silver upright bass. Regine had this other odd instrument.. dunno what it was.. Then when Win got on stage, more people joined in the singing. "Stop now before it's too late.. Been eating in the ghetto on a hundred-dollar plate.."

In the Backseat: This one was the most calming one of all of them. People still sang along, though. I closed my eyes for part of this.. I swear, at the beginning, I almost cried. Parry was still playing the upright bass, and it was beautiful.

Intervention: Another one of my favorites. In fact, it is the most played track for me on last.fm. At the beginning/end of In the Backseat, Win said, "Now when I go to heaven and meet St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, I can tell him I broke my E-string on the quietest song in our set." Hahhahaha. He had the guitar with "sak vide pa kanpe" written on it. "Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home..." Everyone was yelling along with the chorus.

(Antichrist Television Blues): This time the screens started with static on them, like a broken television. This song is a lot like Haiti for me, because I never really listened to it that much. Again, it surprised me. I kept thinking about Lloyd's weblog entry on that song (whoa, that was two months ago!). Once again, Regine put on a great show. The static on the television changed to TV color bars and video footage of the band members.

Ocean of Noise (No video :/ ): They kind of toned it down a bit with Ocean of Noise. On the screen was the video from their website of the swimmers. Not many people knew the lyrics to this one, but Stevie definitely did. :P I think she knows the lyrics to all the songs from Neon Bible from writing her paper on it. Despite not knowing most of the lyrics to this song, I clearly remember people singing to this line: "(Win:) Now who here among us.. still believes in choice? (Audience:) NOT I!" This was the song where Stevie said to me, "I think it's raining!" and I said, "No, it's not!" and two minutes later... "Wait, yes it is!" Haha, turns out there was just a lot of fog. XD

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels): Wow. I had no idea this many people liked this song. o_o The people behind us, who weren't really very excited about many of the Neon Bible songs, were jumping up and down the second they heard the beginning of this. "Then I'll dig a tunnel.. From my window to yours!" Hahaha, it was getting kinda late, and they kept mentioning parents in this song, so I was getting just a little nervous about coming home past midnight. But I soon forgot that.. "Then.. we tried to name our babies.. but we forgot all the names that.. THE NAMES WE USED TO KNOW!"

The Well and the Lighthouse (no video): I believe this is the one that Regine was playing the drums in. Even though I've seen her playing drums before, it's still kind of surprising. :P "Re-sur-rec-ted... living in a lighthouse!" The last quiet-ish song of the bunch.

Neighborhood #3 (Power Out): YAY! I was waiting for this one! Hahaha. Will and Win were slamming on their guitars, but I've never seen a musician as crazy as the xylophone guy. My goodness. How does he do that?! It looks like he's just hitting the xylophone randomly, but the sound that comes out is in the right order. "WE FOUND THE LIGHT!" ... "Take it from your heart.. put it in your hand!"

Rebellion (Lies): They didn't stop. I kept thinking, how long can they go with the guitar and drums like that? They just transitioned right into Rebellion (Lies). They chose the right song to end with. Nooo.. didn't want it to be over... Win was holding up the lighted stick thing (light saber? XD) and swinging it around. "(Win:) Every time you close your eyes.. (Audience:) LIES! LIES!!" So much energy. Xylophone guy was throwing the megaphone up in the air. Will Butler went up on the side of the Greek with his drum, but not anywhere near us. And then at the end.. that last humming segment... I think the whole crowd hummed/sang it at least 20 times. Probably more. We hummed it through the end of the song, when AF went off stage, and when they came back for the encore. That was the most extraordinary part of the whole concert. Everyone in that amphitheater. In unison.

ENCORE.

Cold Wind: Okay, so this song isn't on any of AF's albums. They wrote it for the soundtrack for the TV drama Six Feet Under. Win changed his plans and played for his grandfather, because "San Francisco was his city." Even though I didn't know the song, I felt like I had heard it before. It was really nice.

Wake Up: The song I'd been waiting for ever since I first got "addicted" to Arcade Fire. When I saw the videos of this song being played.. it was always the one I imagined we would be singing to at the concert. And here it was. EVERYONE knew the lyrics to this one. I was singing/yelling at the top of my lungs. This would be the only time I'd be able to sing this song LIVE with the band right there in front of me and all these people around me.. well, at least for a while. (Haha, there was this random guy who got on the stage and was singing, but security caught him right when he got on the other side XD) "I GUESS WE'LL JUST HAVE TO ADJUUUUUUUUUUUUUhhhhhhoooooohhhhhhuuuhoohuuh (continues)"

11:00pm

The concert just.. ended. It was so sudden. We were all clapping and whistling and then they were just gone. D: We slowly filed out of the Greek Theatre, and I was amazed at how many people there were.. and how much my feet/legs hurt. Ow. Why hadn't I felt this during the concert?

11:30pm

Lloyd walked us to the BART station, then Stevie, Alex, and I headed down and discovered that there were WAY too many people on the Fremont BART train. Filled with crazy (and probably drunk) AF fans. No way were we taking that one.

11:45pm

Got on the next Fremont train. Practically collapsed on the seat. Mm, cushioned seats.. great after 6-7 hours of standing or sitting on rocks. Napped. :)

12:30am-ish

Said goodbye to Stevie at the Union City station, and Alex at the Fremont station. My dad was waiting there for me. He looked just a little annoyed about me getting home after midnight, but I was so tired and achy that I didn't really care. Got home.. posted on Twitter.. went to sleep.

June 2nd, 11:01pm

I finish writing this entry. It's extremely long. If you read the whole entire thing.. I congratulate you. o_o Anyways. Tonight's performance is probably just ending right now.. how I wish I could've gone. Arcade Fire's live performance is so much more than what you hear from the album. In fact, the album doesn't even come close. Neither do the videos (much thanks to dustinkeirstead, makinbeans, and RocketBrothers for uploading them). By writing this, I've come to realize.. last night was.. I can't even put it into words. Incredible, awesome, stunning, surreal, priceless... you had to be there. Thank you Alex, Stevie, Lloyd, and my parents for letting me have this experience. :)

I can't wait until next time. ::hums the end of Rebellion (Lies)::