Idolator
Those of you who are bemoaning the death of the compact disc have clearly not visited Green Bay, Wisc., where the owner of neighborhood record store The Exclusive says that his business is thriving! Anyone want to guess that part of the reason for the CD's relative health in Green Bay could be the mere existence of a neighborhood record store, as opposed to a far-flung Target that only has Disney tie-in CDs and the complete Now series on its music shelves? [Before They Were Famous, The Arcade Fire Were Just These Guys Who Opened For Chromeo
While cleaning out his archives, Gawker's Jim Lehnhoff unearthed some video that he shot of the Arcade Fire all the way back on April 11, 2004, at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. (They were third on the bill, playing behind the Unicorns and freakin' Chromeo, and in front of The Ponys.) Anyway, he donated it to us for "research" purposes; while Win Butler does engage in some flopping around the (teeny!) stage during this performance of "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," this clip is notable for the fact that the band doesn't really need Christmas lights, mariachi bands, or Web 2.0 trickery in order to put on a pretty damn compelling show. Ah, 2004—were we all that much more innocent then?