Mixed reviews, upset fans, venues far from full, Arcade Fire’s new world tour obviously didn’t get off to the expected start. Targeted this summer by allegations of sexual misconduct, the singer Win Butler will find in a month, on December 3, the Quebec public in a Bell Center which has thousands of tickets still available. A look back at the last chaotic weeks of the group that was once the pride of Montreal.
• Read also: Feist Quits Arcade Fire Tour Following Win Butler Assault Allegations
• Read also: Arcade Fire launches Dublin tour, despite allegations of sexual misconduct
• Read also: Sexual misconduct allegations: Arcade Fire’s Win Butler accused by four people
A scandal splashes the training
Photo d’archives, AFP
Win Butler
On August 27, three days before the start of Arcade Fire’s world tour in Europe, the renowned American media Pitchfork dropped a bombshell: the singer of the group Win Butler faces allegations of sexual misconduct against four people. In the testimonies collected, several events allegedly took place in Montreal. Win Butler responds to these allegations by stating that they were all consensual reports. His wife, Régine Chassagne, supports him. The tour continues as planned.
Mixed reviews
Screenshot taken from YouTube
During the first two concerts of the tour, in Dublin, Ireland, some spectators met by local media said they were unaware of the recent controversy. Others admit to having gone to the show a little backwards, for lack of being able to get their ticket reimbursed. Videos of these concerts show a very enthusiastic crowd, as in the good years of the group. In the media, on the other hand, one can read several lukewarm, even very negative reviews. The Financial Times gave it a two-out-of-five star rating, writing that the “once great” band is now suffering from “a slow puncture”.
Feist and Beck leave the boat
Screenshot taken from YouTube
Feist
In Europe, after only two opening performances for Arcade Fire, Canadian singer Feist announced that she was retiring from the tour. In a long message on social networks, she mentions in particular that “staying on the world tour means that I defend or ignore the harm caused by Win Butler, and leaving would mean that I am judge and jury”. After a radio silence of several weeks, Beck announced in turn that he would not participate in the North American portion of the tour. The Haitian group Boukman Eksperyans is called to the rescue and takes care of the first parts for the rest of the calendar.
Tickets available
While many expected Arcade Fire to cancel their tour this summer, the band chose to press on, come hell or high water. For the founder of POP Montreal, Dan Seligman, who worked closely with the group, this decision is not surprising, because such a tour costs “millions and millions of dollars”. The musicians could lose money in this story, however, because the majority of their concerts in Europe were not sold out. Even worse: many spectators try to resell their tickets. In Toronto, there were more than 1,000 tickets available for resale on the Ticketmaster site for the show on 1is december. In Montreal, people want to resell nearly 800 tickets for the December 3 concert. The task will be difficult for them, because there are still at least 2000 tickets still available at the Bell Centre.
What future for Arcade Fire?
In Europe, in the first echoes of the start of the group’s tour in August, there was talk of musicians who play in a disembodied way and who do not have interactions with each other. Some pessimistic observers even went so far as to say that the band could very well break up after this tour. For Dan Seligman, if the members of Arcade Fire ever want to release another album and go on tour again, they will have to wait a very long time. “Because it will be something stressful for them. As for the city of Montreal, which was so proud of Win Butler’s gang, one can almost speak of heartbreak. “The group was part of the mythology of the city, just like Leonard Cohen and Celine Dion, says Dan Seligman. What happened hurts collectively. »