my theory always has been. having a lot of great songs on the same album can be a bad thing in these polls. cos instead having all the fans vote for the one song you have that same group of fans voting for a number of songs in turn giving each song fewer votes.

 

and to get really picky haha. the two polls are quite different. one is run by richard kingsmill and voted on predominantly by people who listen to his show every night sunday. so about 15 000 or so people. the hottest 100 countdown attracted 155 000 votes this year. predominantly people who listen to the station once or twice a week.

 

while we're talking AF and hottest 100. before this countdown they had only ever had 1 song ever in the hottest 100. which is incredible considering how popular they are. The Suburbs at #58 is the best they've ever done.

 

 

INDEED!

I'm going to see them in June! :D

Arcade Fire are playing a small "secret" show tonight in Los Angeles. From what I understand, it's at the Ukrainian Cultural Center (what a place for a concert :confused:). Anyhow, I'm going to head down there to see what activity ensues. I would have liked to have gotten a ticket, but you had to wait in line at 1 of 3 record stores, and I got a little thing called a J-O-B that prevents me from playing whenever I want.

 

I'm bringing my copy of Funeral for them to sign. If I get punked like I did last time, I might have to set them straight (I'm just joking for all those who take things literally).

I'm so excited for the Grammy's on Sunday, can't wait to see AF perform! :awesome:

 

^Yeah, I heard someone else on another forum complaining about that. . . it was like a scavenger hunt with pictures to figure out the stores, right? :thinking:

I don't think that's very fair, like you said people have jobs that prevent them from physically being in a store, whereas they could always take 10 minutes and buy tickets online if it was a normal sale. :\

 

But good luck!

I'm so excited for the Grammy's on Sunday, can't wait to see AF perform! :awesome:

 

 

you're excited about the grammys? you do realise it is the joke of the music world........

you're excited about the grammys? you do realise it is the joke of the music world........

 

Don't tell me you don't want to see Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, and Muse all perform on one night? :wtf:

Grammys are a joke. I'll agree with that. But it's still the most prestigious award show in the industry. I can't think of a more coveted award, at least.

^exactly. And it gives the winning bands a lot of new listeners, which AF needs. (in my area at least. Nobody at school that I know has even heard of them. :facepalm:)

Don't tell me you don't want to see Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, and Muse all perform on one night? :wtf:

 

not quite worth sitting through over 3hrs of bullshit just to see those 3 bands do one song each (in muse's case one mediocre song from their 5th album) but mumford w/bob dylan should be great.

 

Grammys are a joke. I'll agree with that. But it's still the most prestigious award show in the industry. I can't think of a more coveted award, at least.

 

i'm sure every british band would take a Mercury over a grammy any day. in terms of business, it is the most valuable award to win but you will cop all out "sell out" taunts at the same time.

 

^exactly. And it gives the winning bands a lot of new listeners, which AF needs. (in my area at least. Nobody at school that I know has even heard of them. :facepalm:)

 

http://features.metacritic.com/features/2011/nominees-for-53rd-grammy-awards/

 

you might find that link interesting. AF are the lowest selling in the album of the year category but have the highest number of last.fm plays.

i'm sure every british band would take a Mercury over a grammy any day. in terms of business, it is the most valuable award to win but you will cop all out "sell out" taunts at the same time.

 

I don't follow the award shows of the world, so you may be right. Nevertheless, the Grammy is going to rank toward the top, which is my point.

 

With respect to being called a "sell out," any band that starts to have mainstream success is going to be forced to wear that label. I don't really see any point in running from it. You either want to achieve a certain degree of popularity or you don't. I think many of the best bands have one foot in each door - commercial and critical success. Any "indie" band that has achieved even a moderate level of success is in town this weekend, so it's not an award that they are really running from. I don't know - I don't see it as a big deal.

Arcade Fire at the Ukrainian Cultural Center Review

 

Alright, so I made it into the venue tonight. Granted, I did not get in until 20 minutes after the show started. In fact, I was thinking about skipping it since I like to go to a show from beginning to end. Then common sense kicked in, and I decided to drop $30 to get an hour of Arcade Fire in what can only be described as a community center. I'm not kidding - this is the type of place that a family might rent out for a wedding or a dance. Needless to say, seeing Arcade Fire in a venue (if you can call it that) this size was a real treat. It was a relatively short set list (15 songs), which was made even shorter by the fact that I missed the first 3 songs. However, the chance to see Wake Up, Tunnels, and Power Out (amongst others) in a facility that reminded me of my high school gym made it the best $30 I ever spent.

 

As you may know from one of my prior posts, I got turned down cold last time I asked Win and Regine to sign a photo for me. Well, the same thing is true - they still won't touch a glossy photo, guitar, or any item they feel might be sold. I still think it's arbitrary, but whatever. Knowing this from my last experience, I came prepared with Funeral on CD. Sure enough, Win and Regine turned down all collectors with items other than CDs or vinyl albums. I was fortunate enough to get them to both sign my copy of Funeral, and Win even signed the insert, too.

 

A bit of a funny story: As Win was turning down item after item, I started being chatty about the fact that I had the insert to the Funeral CD. I probably said it a time or two too many, as he looked at me and said "I know what it is, I wrote the fucking album." He said it in a playful tone, but I'm sure he was probably tired of my short burst of yammering. In conclusion, we can chalk this night up to a complete winner - the show was great and I had success meeting the band.

^^

 

wow nice story! any reason for why they were playing such a small venue?

^ It was just sort of a pre-Grammy show. Why they chose this "venue" is beyond me, especially when they have so many to choose from in L.A. I mean, this wasn't even what I would call a venue. We've all been to weddings where someone rents out a hall or large room. That's the only way to describe this place. Like I said, the size and floor layout reminded me of my high school gym.

^ Thanks...yeah, it was good. I guess they are playing Month of May at the Grammys.

 

Here is some nice footage from last night's show:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJf3hBb5Peo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJf3hBb5Peo[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FS78qvsDtc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FS78qvsDtc[/ame]

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL2AX76YRCI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL2AX76YRCI[/ame]

I wanted to go to the show last night and was closely following the tweeting and the scavenger hunting behind it, but it sounded like most people who didn't camp out the night they revealed the painstakingly obvious location clues were out of luck the next day. (There's lots of fan anger about this apparently, but I wasn't willing to brave the cold OR the creeps late at night in LA) Still, one of my close friends gambled by going to the venue last night just like you did, and she was able to get in (and she also missed the first song or two). Really jealous but it sounds like it was an amazing experience. Glad you finally got them to sign something!

^ Man, you aren't kidding about the creeps. The venue was in one of the worst areas I've been to in LA. You know it's bad when every house has bars on their windows. I had to leave my car on the street, and I was nervous all night that it would be gone when I got back.

good to see the Grammys made the right choice :D

 

thoroughly deserved Album of the Year even though it wasn't my favourite. but i have renewed respect in the grammys.

I wasn't a fan of their performance of Month of May. I thought the band sounded good but the lights were too much (you could barely see any of them) and also those bikers were rediculous... what a joke the Grammys are.

Lolz, chill, it's just an award.

were they nominated for NB or Funeral? I mean, both are better than The Suburbs IMO

 

I was so happy when they won :lol: I don't know why, I mean I don't care that much about awards and stuff but they looked so happy :heart:

I wasn't a fan of their performance of Month of May. I thought the band sounded good but the lights were too much (you could barely see any of them) and also those bikers were rediculous... what a joke the Grammys are.

 

yeah it looked more like a deadmau5 performance than arcade fire. not sure whose idea it was but it was terrible.

 

were they nominated for NB or Funeral? I mean, both are better than The Suburbs IMO

 

I was so happy when they won :lol: I don't know why, I mean I don't care that much about awards and stuff but they looked so happy :heart:

 

pretty sure both were nominated for best alternative album. but never won. actually im pretty sure this is their first grammy ever. not a bad one to win.

Honestly I thought Eminem was gonna win, I haven't even listened to his album but grammys are like that most of the times. I'm so glad that AF won :)

did everyone watch them do Ready to Start at the end? my tv channel cut off the broadcast before they started :S

that's what I found annoying.

 

I really liked Ready to Start a lot more in terms of performance, they didn't need any of those stupid bikers or flashy lights. But towards the middle to the end they cut to some commercials saying who was sponsoring the whole event. At least they could've waited a few more minutes.

our channel also did that :/