At long last, Arcade Fire returned with their sixth album We on Friday. The project presented ten songs across 40 minutes of music that the band first started putting together towards the end of 2020. We is the band’s first album since 2017’s Everything Now, but it’s also the group’s first project without their longtime multi-instrumentalist Will Butler, who departed the band at the end of 2021 just after We was completed. While moving on without Butler will certainly be different, Arcade pushes full steam ahead with a pair of performances on Saturday Night Live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4hy_C1fBPU
The band kicked off the night with a performance of “Unconditional (Lookout Kid)” that captured the band standing beside each other on the stage flushed in gold lighting as they coursed through the nearly 5-minute song. Next came “The Lightning I, II” in which the band gave a passionate performance of to close the night.
Arcade Fire’s recent performance on Saturday Night Live makes for the fifth one of the band’s lifetime following performances in 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2018. It also comes after the band announced their tour dates in support of We. Arcade Fire will hit the road at the end of August with a show in Ireland and continue for three months before bringing things to a close with a show in Toronto on December 1.
You can watch Arcade perform “The Lightning I, II” and “Unconditional (Lookout Kid)” in the videos above.
We is out now via Columbia. You can stream it here.
