Arcade Fire and Bomba Estéreo turned the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver inside out last night. Colombia’s best current export (sorry, coffee) comes in the form of Bomba Estéreo. A South American outfit that gets “it” when it comes to making music with the international community at heart. No boundaries. They don’t exist. Fuck your wall.
Behind the strong stage presence of vocalist Liliana Saumet and band founder Simón Mejía, Bomba Estéreo brought a brand of cumbia that curved most of the Pepsi Center crowd into a manic dance frenzy. Behind the release of their fifth album, “Ayo,” Mejia and company flexed their vast material with crowd pleasers “Fuego” and “Soy Yo.” Although, newer material like “Internacionales” and “Ayo” received the special treatment in the first of many nights opening up for Arcade Fire.
In my time of covering live events have I ever seen an arena act use a wrestling/boxing ring as the focal point of a show. And yet, Win Butler and company delivered with one of the most imaginative stage setups that I’ve witnessed at the Pepsi Center. U2 created a heart-shaped stage, but nothing like this. Regine Chassagne rocked a one-piece red suit leather suit that struggled to contain her swag. Five albums into the band’s discography can prove to be a daunting task with delivery. On the “Infinite Content” tour, Arcade Fire came out firing with the spirit of elder statesman of rock that we deserve. The heavy promotion of their new album, “Everything Now,” felt very self-aware at times and rubbed fans the wrong way. Hundred dollar spinners have a tendency to do that to people. Despite the lack of punch on “Everything Now,” fans weren’t detracted by the kitschy effort on the new album. NOLA’s latest residents delved into an ironclad repertoire that saw the first performance of “Modern Man” in over six years. Visuals from the “Infinite Content” tour that accompany each song are each different and the one for “Put Your Money On Me” won the evening for me. The behemoth like screens rained green dollar bill signs and a barrage of pyramids from start to finish.
Above all, it was Regine that came into her own. Chassagne owned the swirling stage with her songs “Haiti” and “Electric Blue.” After all these years, the Haitian vocalist looks to be spreading her wings with ease.
If you’re on the fence on whether you should catch Arcade Fire on this tour, you might want to get on the ball. According to this interview with Denver Post’s The Know, Butler alludes to the fact that this might be the last arena tour for a while:
He echoed that sentiment in a podcast interview with The Ringer a few weeks ago. “This might be the last show of this magnitude we do for a very long time,” he said, “so if people are curious to see what our band’s like … I would say, check us out now.”
Arcade Fire Setlist Pepsi Center 10.25.17
Everything Now (Continued)
(instrumental version with boxing intro)
Everything Now
Signs of Life
Rebellion (Lies)
Here Comes the Night Time
No Cars Go
Haïti
Electric Blue
Put Your Money on Me
Neon Bible
Intervention
Modern Man
(First performance since 2011)
The Suburbs
The Suburbs (Continued)
Ready to Start
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Reflektor
Afterlife
Creature Comfort
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Encore
We Don’t Deserve Love
Everything Now (Continued)
Wake Up
Arcade Fire Tour Dates
0/27/17- Kansas City, MO – Silverstein Eye Centers Arena
10/29/17 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
11/01/17 – Windsor, ON – Windsor Credit Family Union Centre
11/03/17 – Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre
11/04/17 – Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre
Bomba Estéreo Tour Dates
October 27 – Silverstein Eye Centers Arena – Independence, Missouri (with Arcade Fire)
November 5 – Club Colombia Oktoberfest – Cartagena, Colombia
December 5 – Centro de Eventos Autop. Norte – Bogotá, Colombia (with Arcade Fire)
December 11 – Movistar Arena – Santiago, Chile (with Arcade Fire)
Bomba Estéreo
Arcade Fire
