Arcade Fire live in Lucca - Italy

 

What more could I have asked for than to watch one of my favourite bands perform live in Italy? I was so ecstatic when I read on Arcade Fire's bandpage that they were going to gig in Italy that I immediately started making plans to cross the Mediterranean again. Clementine and I crossed with the same night ferry from Bastia to Livorno and spent a full day in Italy before the gig at night.

The beers outside the venue were cheap, the Panini probably the best I’ve had since being in Europe, the weather was perfect and the setting for their performance in the town of Lucca was magnificent. One of the main squares in Lucca was used as a beautiful setting for this event with old buildings looking into the square, a big statue in the centre with surrounding trees and cobble stones.

I was excited to see them, but had a huge piss prior to the show. Can you believe it; I found only two toilets and had to stand in a queue for more than 15 minutes? Being a guy, it especially sucks to wait, but I had to and complained with the girls around me. Clementine waited amongst the eager fans and by the time I returned the crowd had grown extensively, which resulted in me looking for her for some time.

The sun set behind the old buildings and Arcade Fire started with a bang - ‘Ready to Start’ followed by ‘Suburban War’ with mad lights and energetic Italians. I was in heaven! I raised and clapped my hands like the people in the church do. I was in ecstasy by the time they played ‘No Cars Go’. All my Arcade Fire favourites like; ‘Rebellion Lies’, ‘We Used To Wait’, ‘Tunnels’, ‘Month of May’, the list continues, were played. Band members continued to switch duties as they added to the growing sound.

Arcade Fire played an hour and a half set filled with emotion and energy. They left the stage for a few seconds and returned to end off with ‘Wake Up’. Jesus, I can’t express myself, I think I jizzed my pants right then and there.
I made the mission across from Corsica, walked the towns of Cinque Terre the afternoon before, swam in the Mediterranean and here I was singing along to every song.

What an epic performance by one of the hottest bands live. I’ve been lucky the past week having had the opportunity to watch Foals in Corsica and Arcade Fire in Italy. It was most probably one of the best days to date.

 Apologies for the shitty photos taken with my Iphone.

Foals Live at Calvi On The Rocks - Corsica

Foals pulled into Corsica to play an energetic gig at Calvi on the Rocks.

At first I didn’t have tickets and I didn’t really know where or how I’d get tickets to watch them perform. I decided to go to Calvi a week ahead of the gig and asked around for tickets but they said that they were sold out, so I walked to go view the venue and planned a move to jump a fence or something on the night.

This was luckily not needed as Clementine’s sister knew people who knew people and Clem and I were escorted into the venue with the event organiser, free of charge and handed a beer.

I didn’t see any of the other acts and only watched Foals play. They played an hour set with songs from “Antidotes” and “Total Life Forever”. The event wasn’t too crowded and I ended up having an awesome spot. The gig started with ‘Blue blood’ and continued to build and get louder. I can’t remember all the songs they played but one that stood out for me was when they played ‘Spanish Sahara’ with a shorter intro and great crescendo.

Frontman Yannis Philippakis was not very talkative and all I remember him saying was, “merci beaucoup” and “this is our last song”. I don’t know if it’s because of all the French people (there were lots of British folk around too) or if his not a talkative guy, but I suppose we went to see them perform, listen to the music and not listen to stupid jokes or telling us to buy the new CD.

I was standing almost in front with a big tribal tattoo guy in my space. Halfway through the gig Yannis came down from the stage and told the tribal guy’s buddy to fuck off. I don’t know what he did, but Yannis didn’t seem happy and soon moved to the other side of the stage. The songs became louder and his energy increased. The next moment he came back and stage dived on to me and the tribal guy, almost as if he deliberately wanted to jump on this guy. He walked to the back of the crowd, climbed a temporary structure and continued. His and the bands energy grew and he started beating the shit out of the drums with his drumstick.

The gig was everything I wanted from it. An energetic tight performance by one of the groups I never thought I’d have the chance to see live.

Foals are jamming at the Lake of Stars event in Malawi in September. If you’re in Southern Africa around September or anywhere in the world, then mission to Malawi to go check Foals and all the other African acts perform.

I love Malawi and its people and would love to one day return. For those hesitant about going, don’t be. Foals won’t disappoint and Malawi is one of the sweetest destinations I’ve been to.