Finding the Fire

I am an Arcade Fire fan. It has taken seven years and an incredible concert last week to finally admit it. We headed into the "big city" to see the concert, so dinner was a quick affair before the sitter arrived. No time to sing. I left it to the professionals. Arcade Fire put on an amazing show. The sound was incredible and cohesive. There are 8 people in the band, all playing various instruments and all completely in the zone. In a word, for me, it was phenomenal.

I bought the tickets because my husband was the Arcade Fire fan. In the middle of "Power Out", I was able to put my journey with Arcade Fire into prospective. Before the birth of my second son in 2005, finding new music was my passion. If I caught wind of a new sound or band, I was in the Ann Arbor public library database requesting the CD to get a listen. While playing many car and block sessions with Alex, tunes like "Float On" by Modest Mouse mingled with his babble and laughter. It was my slice of heaven. My hubby was bombarded with my discoveries, and he usually enjoyed seeing what I found. Arcade Fire's Funeral was the last cd I got before Austin was born. I never got to listen to it. I gave it to my husband, and went back to my chores and the boys. Two boys, 18 months apart, was noisy enough. Forget getting to read and learn about new bands. There wasn't the time. So the music repeated, and eventually stalled until it was just whatever radio station or cd was in the player.

My hubby on the other hand, took the Funeral CD and listened to it from 2005 until 2009 between sessions in his lab to enjoying it on his ipod. He wasn't keeping it from me. In fact, it was the opposite. He kept pestering me to listen to it. He told me many times how awesome the sound was and how I would like the lyrical theme. I was pretending to listen to him explain how great their music was while I made lists in my head of groceries, cleaning, playdates and things to pack. Their next CD came out in 2007, Neon Bible, and he got it from the library himself in our new town in New Hampshire. By this time, we were in a new house and I was juggling the house, a part-time job and the dynamic duo. Again, he told me how great. Again, I said I don't have time or interest. In 2010 they released the Suburbs, and it went almost unnoticed in our house. I was now living in the Indianapolis suburbs, and growing restless. The kids were off to school all day, and there was too much quiet. Pandora quickly became my best friend, and I was starting to spend more time reading the band info window instead of relying to the emails stacking up in my inbox. Arcade Fire starting coming up as a suggestion in my Pandora stations. Apparently, I am supposed to like this band. Some friends mentioned the concert, and I thought it could be fun and Bill likes them. Why not?

I am so happy we did. I learned a lot about a great band, and a little about myself. "Modern Man" on Suburbs captures the restlessness I was sitting with all of these years avoiding Arcade Fire and the enjoyment I have been missing without new music. Having put parts of myself on the shelf for my family, I am happy to be finding music and myself again. I suspect my hubby knew I was missing music. Or he was just wanting me to find him a new band to listen to. Either way, I am grateful he brought me to Arcade Fire.