The fucking ACL scheduling people scheduled both acts at the same time. I am torn. I like both! Who do I see? Who? I need input from the groupthink.
Whichever one I miss, I will console myself with the fact that I will be hearing the Decemberists play the very next day.
Arcade was great in concert the one time I saw them.
Both are great live, but I’d go with White Stripes if only for the larger catalog of great songs. Funeral is perhaps the greatest album of the 2000s thus far, but like most band’s second albums, Neon Bible was pretty lackluster and a big letdown compared to first.
You forgot to vote, CCZ.
My vote is pretty worthless, as I am not crazy about either band and haven’t seen either in concert. So there you go. Glad I could help.
I was kicking around the idea of going to see Maserati on Saturday. Any opinions?
If you’ve never heard them before, don’t expect regular rock music. I don’t know what to call it… soundscaping? Like early Dream Theater, but with more melody and less distortion. There’s lots of dissonance in their songs, which makes it interesting, but it’s not something I’d take my girlfriend to (she’d hate it).
I haven’t seen the white stripes, but Arcade Fire in concert (Greek theatre, berkeley) were fantastic. They have like twelve girls and gals in the band, all of them running and drumming and violining and dancing all over the stage and into the crowd which makes for a great show. I love the variety and complexity of their sound too, and when the whole crowd started humming their tune I got the tingles. I’ll see them again.
Yeah, I know who they are. They are too boring for me to listen to on CD most of the time, but it’s the kind of thing that if you concentrate on, it can be pretty engrossing. If their musicianship is as good as that of most post-rock bands, it should be a pretty good show.
I like the White Stripes better in general; that’s the basis for my vote. I’ve seen the White Stripes once, and it was a pretty good show, though Jack was getting frustrated at something in the middle of the show and gave up and switched songs midway through a few of them. I don’t know if he’s a temperamental guy, or if he was just having a hard day, or what. I wouldn’t object to an Arcade Fire concert, I’ve heard them and they’re ok, but I’ve never seen them live.
For me, seeing Arcade Fire in concert was like spending 90 minutes having overindulgent parents show you crayola refridgerator art done by a halfwit child. Had the crowd started to hum or do anything similarly precious, I might’ve thrown up on my shoes.
Go see some rock instead. Go see the White Stripes.
From a live show perspective, I would say Arcade Fire for the spectacle. That many people onstage can’t help but be entertaining.
Shit Bonerz
White Stripes because Arcade Fire is like listening to dying rabbits, and White Stripes is only like listening to howler monkeys.
I recall reading an article about him, and how he does odd things (I remember the article suggesting he purposefully used crappy guitar strings both to get an interesting sound and because he had fun trying to adjust if one broke in the middle of a song).
Guy fascinates me. Don’t care so much about Meg.
Meg’s a glorified metronome, but without the personality. If that keeps Jack happy enough to keep making White Stripes albums, it works for me.
I voted White Stripes, but only because there was no shit bonerz option and because of the two, they’re the band that suck the least.
I’ve seen the White Stripes four times … the second time (after White Blood Cells) was the best because Jack White seemed genuinely weird (and maybe tripping – that might have been their first ever tour date in the Netherlands). I was drinking a beer before the show and he came down from the dressing room to get some change right next to me at the bar, and he looked so agitated I didn’t say Hi or anything. And during the show, there were two microphones for him – one facing the crowd and one facing Meg. He’d switch to the Megphone in the middle of the song and she would just look up at him with that sleepy porcelain-doll smile, and I imagined her face was the only thing that kept him from flinging his guitar into the crowd and fleeing the scene.
Subsequent concerts were also good, but Jack didn’t have that (perhaps manufactured) aura of being on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Alas.
I’m shocked that Arcade Fire got more than one or two votes.
I don’t know who Arcade Fire are, but the White Stripes are the worst live act I’ve ever seen, so anyone but them.
What kind of music is this? I’m so out of touch!