Arcade Fire- 2001 Demos!

Last week, tickets to Arcade Fire went on sale for their concert in town on September 23rd. I opted for the pre-sale (you can always find the passwords on-line!) that was held on Wednesday August 18, instead of waiting for the public sale on Friday. I've been ultra-paranoid about getting crappy seats if I wait for the regular public sale since the Pixies show years ago when it sold out in record time and I had to settle for second balcony top corner seats despite searching for tickets only minutes after they went on sale. Most concerts nowadays have some kind of pre-sale, either the band's fan club, website or the sponsor of the concert, such as a radio station or Livenation. Anyways, I scored some floor seats, actually floor space, as the floor will be general admission which means standing for many many hours. I don't mind, I would prefer to be straight on with the stage so I can get a more balanced audio recording of the show...keep your fingers crossed.

I'm curious about Ticketmaster and their "paper-free" ticket for the general admission floor. Anyone know how this works exactly? Ticketmaster won't send me my physical ticket in the mail, so instead I have to print off the confirmation page (...on paper!) that they emailed me and present it to the will-call window with ID, credit card and all the people I'm taking to the show, only immediately before the concert. I assume they have to give me a ticket or a piece of paper with a bar-code that will be scanned before I enter the arena. If that's the case, is it truly "paper-free"? It seems to me there has to be some paper involved. I do realize this is a way to help prevent scalping of the floor tickets, but why am I paying a $12.75 Ticketmaster service/convenience fee to save them the cost of printing and mailing my ticket? It inconveniences me by making me stand in more line-ups the night of the show...am I wrong? Besides, I'm one of those concert/music purists that likes to keep all their ticket stubs from the concerts I've attended...I have quite the collection! Oh well, I guess we'll see.

Since there has been so much attention about Arcade Fire and they've hit a peak in popularity these past weeks, I thought it would be interesting to post early demos from the band. These demos are from 2001 and will really open your eyes to their sound before Funeral and how they have evolved to present day. Their sound is much sparser and less produced, without their distinct layering of sound and it sounds nothing like their later albums. They sound like a typical indie band with acoustic and twangy electric guitars, bass and drums, without horns, strings and extra percussion. Not the grandiose, over the top sound they have become known for, but I quite like these songs and many of them stand up to their later work. It provides of frame work of things to come and really exposes how a band's sound can evolve and incorporate ideas and input from the band members that will join the band later (who are not on this recording). Other than what I've read on-line, I don't know too much history about these recordings and according to their Wikipedia page, the band formed in 2003, so I'm sure who exactly performed on these songs, but I'm guessing it was a least Win, Regine and maybe two other guys.

If you're a fan of Arcade Fire, you must hear this! Let me know what you think.

ARCADE FIRE
2001 Demos

01. Winter For A Year
02. My Mind Is A Freeway
03. Accidents
04. Goodnight Boy
05. Asleep At The Wheel
06. In The Attic
07. Can't Let Go Of You
08. You Tried To Turn Away My Fears
09. Instrumental
10. The Great Arcade Fire

ARCADE FIRE- 2001 demos. rar