The most notable thing missing from the above flyer of a show we played with the Unicorns at the old Echo Lounge back in 2004 is the other band that was on the bill that night, Arcade Fire. They were only a couple weeks into the tour, opening for the Unicorns, and at that point were just another unknown band coming through. They didn't even have an album out yet. During soundcheck they had their whole stage setup sprawled out on the floor of the Echo, motorcycle helmets and all. There were ten plus people in the band at that point and we were all a little bit curious as to what they were all about.
The show was cool. All the bands played well but there was nothing really memorable that stuck with me about the show, other than how crazy looking Arcade Fire were on stage. I remember thinking they looked like a bunch of crazy gypsies or something. After the show all the bands were out back loading equipment and it becomes obvious that the Arcade Fire folks have no where to go and they don't know anyone in the city. At this point it's around 2am or so. Jordan offers them floor space at his brother Preston's house in East Point, where he was living at the time. They graciously excepted and headed there to crash out. I should also point out that the entire band was traveling in one van. I remember thinking how insane that was.
The next day they had an off day on the tour before heading to North Carolina, so they ended up staying another day at Preston's and we had a big cookout that night in his backyard. During the day they had all done laundry, hung around Little Five Points, found a pool to splash around in and gone grocery shopping to get a bunch of food for the cookout. At the time Snowden was practicing in Preston's living room and we were there running through some songs when they all showed back up. One of the Unicorns (not the Islands one, but the other guy) came by for the cookout too and we proceeded to grillout all kinds of good stuff. Arcade Fire were on Merge at that point, but their first album was still about three months away from being released. They gave us a CD-R copy of it before they left. I talked to Win a bunch about Merge. I asked him about Mac, as I was a huge Superchunk fan. He told me he couldn't be happier with the situation they were in. They left the next day and about a month or so later sent a postcard thanking everyone for the hospitality.
The next time they would return to Atlanta it would to be to sold out theaters and each time they've been back through Win has given us a shout out during their show. They were extremely nice when we met them and even though they have since gone on to grace the cover of Time magazine and what not, I still like to think of them as the kind of folks who spent the little money they had at the time to go buy food for everyone, in return for a hardwood floor to sleep on and a place to do some laundry.
The show was cool. All the bands played well but there was nothing really memorable that stuck with me about the show, other than how crazy looking Arcade Fire were on stage. I remember thinking they looked like a bunch of crazy gypsies or something. After the show all the bands were out back loading equipment and it becomes obvious that the Arcade Fire folks have no where to go and they don't know anyone in the city. At this point it's around 2am or so. Jordan offers them floor space at his brother Preston's house in East Point, where he was living at the time. They graciously excepted and headed there to crash out. I should also point out that the entire band was traveling in one van. I remember thinking how insane that was.
The next day they had an off day on the tour before heading to North Carolina, so they ended up staying another day at Preston's and we had a big cookout that night in his backyard. During the day they had all done laundry, hung around Little Five Points, found a pool to splash around in and gone grocery shopping to get a bunch of food for the cookout. At the time Snowden was practicing in Preston's living room and we were there running through some songs when they all showed back up. One of the Unicorns (not the Islands one, but the other guy) came by for the cookout too and we proceeded to grillout all kinds of good stuff. Arcade Fire were on Merge at that point, but their first album was still about three months away from being released. They gave us a CD-R copy of it before they left. I talked to Win a bunch about Merge. I asked him about Mac, as I was a huge Superchunk fan. He told me he couldn't be happier with the situation they were in. They left the next day and about a month or so later sent a postcard thanking everyone for the hospitality.
The next time they would return to Atlanta it would to be to sold out theaters and each time they've been back through Win has given us a shout out during their show. They were extremely nice when we met them and even though they have since gone on to grace the cover of Time magazine and what not, I still like to think of them as the kind of folks who spent the little money they had at the time to go buy food for everyone, in return for a hardwood floor to sleep on and a place to do some laundry.
1 comment:
that's such a cool story to tell...I knew you guys had played with them, but that just adds to the coolness of you playing with them.
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