Arcade Fire at Coachella – April 2011 PRESS REVIEW – REVUE DE PRESSE LOS ANGELES TIMES, États-‐Unis 17 april 2011 | By Margaret Wappler Coachella 2011: Arcade Fire releases the bubbles If Woody Allen's orgasmatron (from "Sleeper") mated with a beach ball, you'd have something like the white bubbles that poured from the top of the stage into the sea of people at the end of Arcade Fire's headlining set. For a few minutes, the audience pummelled and tossed them back and forth. From the stage, frontman Win Butler grinned, looking as though he was watching his kids open presents on Christmas Day. Then the LED orbs started glowing red, purple, orange, yellow, green ... sometimes a melange of all colors. And that's when the balls stopped bouncing: Some audience members wanted to keep their power (if only to stuff them under their car seats an hour or so later) all for themselves. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/04/coachella-‐2011-‐arcade-‐fire-‐releases-‐
the-‐bubbles.html THE NEW YORK TIMES, États-‐Unis 17 april 2011 | by Ben Ratliff Spectacle Day at Coachella And during “Wake Up,” the last song before a string of encores, its contents were dislodged: hundreds of enormous white balloons, each about twice as big as a beach ball, implanted with computerized lights that started flashing various colors — red, purple, orange — in time to the music. After a few minutes of bouncing, they became concentrated and stationary in the front section: audience members had latched on to their artifact and wouldn’t let go. Look for them today on eBay. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/spectacle-‐day-‐at-‐coachella/ LOS ANGELES TIMES (Times Music Blog), États-‐Unis 25 april 2011 | by Todd Martens So what's the going rate for a giant Arcade Fire LED ball from Coachella? Leave it to Arcade Fire to one-‐up the standard T-‐shirt as a concert souvenir. As many fans are no doubt aware by now, the act unleashed about 2,000 glowing beachball-‐like orbs upon the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival crowd. Those who snared one of the LED-‐
enhanced spheres found themselves with an unexpected free piece of art, and it's never long these days before band-‐related loot makes its way to the secondary market. So what's the value of a limited-‐edition LED beachball? Even those selling them seem unsure. "I want to share the joy of having one of these LED balls from the Arcade Fire show at Coachella 2011," wrote one happy entrepreneur offering one of the balls for auction on EBay. "I'm not sure what it's worth so I'm starting the bid at a $0.01 with no reserve." (…)The bidding in the EBay auction referenced above was at $41 after 14 bids. There are, however, some more ambitious sellers out there. One dealer is asking for a starting bid of $899 for what's claimed to be an unused and unopen beachball, although there are no pics of the item, only the concert. There were zero bids as of the time of writing. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/04/so-‐whats-‐the-‐going-‐rate-‐for-‐a-‐giant-‐
arcade-‐fire-‐led-‐ball-‐from-‐coachella.html THE NEW YORK TIMES, États-‐Unis 18 april 2011 | by Ben Ratliff At Coachella, Every Note is Writ Large The audiovisual happenings made a difference. This year they ran more conceptually, thanks to the Creators Project, a partnership between Intel and Vice, whose work spread across the site’s tents and stages. And so 2,000 giant white balls spilled from the top of Arcade Fire’s stage on Saturday night, each containing an LED light flashing in alternating colors and coordinated with the music. (The band played hard, and the finale offset its vast, rigid and grandiose sound.) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/arts/music/kanye-‐west-‐and-‐arcade-‐fire-‐at-‐coachella-‐
festival-‐review.html ROLLING STONE, États-‐Unis 17 april 2011 | By Steve Appleford Day Two of Coachella: Amazing Sets by Arcade Fire, the Kills, Mumford & Sons and More As that song came to its soaring crescendo, Arcade Fire released 2,000 large balloons from above the stage, blinking in shades of red and blue as they tumbled across the top of the crowd. It was a stunning, otherworldly sight, and small groups of fans were soon seen gathering round the glowing orbs all across Coachella's vast polo fields. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/blogs/festivals/day-‐two-‐of-‐coachella-‐amazing-‐sets-‐by-‐
arcade-‐fire-‐the-‐kills-‐mumford-‐sons-‐and-‐more-‐20110417 WIRED, États-‐Unis 19 april 2011 | by David Bullock Coachella 2011 : Glowing Balls, Giant Art and Mucho Music More than a thousand glowing balls drop from the top of the stage as Arcade Fire plays "Wake Up" on Saturday. The effect was striking with the balls (mostly) changing color in unison. Unfortunately, after a few bounces, most people held onto the balls, either to keep them as souvenirs or sell them. One is already listed on eBay with a buy it now price of $999. The not-‐yet-‐glowing balls for Arcade Fire's finale sit waiting backstage (above) to be loaded into the black tent behind them. Technicians from Eski spent most of the weekend putting together the electronics for the balls, which contained battery-‐powered circuit boards studded with LEDs that changed colors in unison, thanks to built-‐in IR receivers and microphones. http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/04/coachella-‐
2011/?pid=3447&pageid=65772&viewall=true NIGHTLIFE.CA, Canada 19 april 2011 | by Michael-‐Olicer Harding NightLife at Coachella : 10 reasons why Californians have the best thing going This time around, the highlight of the night occurred as the band reached the chorus to “Wake Up”: some 1,250 LED-‐enhanced, blown-‐up beach balls came crashing down into the crowd, with each ball’s inner glow producing a kaleidoscope of colours when observed from afar. Entitled "Summer into Dust", the spectacular interactive stunt was made possible thanks to a collaboration between Montreal companies Moment Factory and ESKI with Vancouver's Tangible Interaction and NY-‐based Radical Media. http://www.nightlife.ca/sorties/nightlife-‐coachella-‐10-‐reasons-‐why-‐californians-‐have-‐best-‐
thing-‐going LE JOURNAL DE MONTRÉAL, Canada 23 april 2011 Arcade Fire met plein la vue au festival de Coachella Cette nouvelle expérience visuelle et sensorielle a été conçue et mise en scène par deux boîtes montréalaises, Moment Factory et ESKI, avec la collaboration du réputé directeur artistique Chris Milk. «C’est Chris Milk et Moment Factory (qui a souvent collaboré avec le Cirque du Soleil et qui a récemment conçu l’imagerie du nouveau spectacle de Céline Dion à Las Vegas) qui ont développé l’idée des ballons lumineux et qui nous ont approchés pour concevoir et chorégraphier le tout», explique David Parent, directeur général d’ESKI. Cette mise en scène innovatrice qui s’est échelonnée sur quatre chansons (la dernière du spectacle et les trois morceaux du rappel) a été minutieusement chorégraphiée pendantplusieurs semaines précédant le concert du groupe montréalais. Les couleurs de chacun des ballons sont contrôlées à distance par ordinateur, selon le rythme et l’ambiance des chansons interprétées. Le coup d’éclat n’est pas passé inaperçu: plusieurs critiques musicaux présents ont souligné ce bon coup dans leurs article http://lejournaldemontreal.canoe.ca/artsetspectacles/musique/archives/2011/04/2011042
3-‐115414.html HITFIX, États-‐Unis 17 april 2011 | BY Katie Hasty What you missed at Coachella : Kanye west, Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon But most outlets seem taken by the souvenirs the group unleashed into the crowd. Giant, beach-‐ball-‐looking orbs dropped during "Wake Up," and the objects glowed different colors at different times, sometimes in tandem with each other. They were art pieces, crafted for the Creator's Project, a multi-‐media effort from Intel and Vice that paired up musical artists and, well, art. http://www.hitfix.com/articles/what-‐you-‐missed-‐at-‐coachella-‐kanye-‐west-‐arcade-‐fire-‐kings-‐
of-‐leon HUFF POST LOS ANGELES, États-‐Unis 17 april l 2011 Coachella 2011 Day 2: Arcade Fire Dazzles With Glowing Orbs Coachella's second day ended with Arcade Fire on the main stage. During their act, the band released color-‐changing balls onto the audience, and The Wrap notes that these ethereal orbs "became one of the most prized souvenirs of another hot, crowded and star-‐studded day at the Empire Polo Club in Indio." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/17/coachella-‐2011-‐day-‐2-‐
arca_n_850261.html#s265305&title=Arcade_Fire_Set EXAMINER, États-‐Unis 17 april 2011 | Jodi Jill Arcade Fire has LED balloons at Coachella 2011 : Fans showered by colors In a one-‐of-‐a-‐kind performance for the day, the band had balloon type bubbles to amuse and share with the entire crowd. In a mysterious black box that was above the main stage, it unleashed a stream of LED bubble type balls that the crowd were recipients of during the performance of ‘Wake Up.’ As if it was a giant waterfall of balloons, these fell from above the stage to the crowd below and then the individual balloons lit up. Sometimes it was random colors, other times it was in unison. As the balloons bounced around above the audience it created a visually stunning art piece that gave another element to the show. This balloon phenomenon lasted for several minutes as the items continued to bounce around and go further back into the audience. Arcade Fire performed for over two-‐and-‐a-‐half hours on the Coachella stage. While fans were tired from the day and the heat, the crowd didn’t mind the cool night air that accompanied the performance as well as the balloons. After the concert was over, the balloons were taken home in the night be concert goers who wanted a little piece of Arcade Fire to remember, even if it glowed in the dark. http://www.examiner.com/celebrity-‐headlines-‐in-‐national/arcade-‐fire-‐pulls-‐out-‐the-‐led-‐
balloons-‐fans-‐showered-‐by-‐colors-‐video#ixzz1LDoLciMX IN LAND SOCAL, États-‐Unis 17 april 2011 | Vanessa Franko Coachella 2011: Arcade Fire crafts Coachella moment Arcade Fire teamed up with artist Chris Milk for the installation that was made possible by The Creators Project. The pinnacle of the set was the main set closer, "Wake Up," when the globes came crashing down, bouncing off audience members in a kaleidoscope of changing colors. In my five years of covering the festival, I have seen a lot of things, including Prince doing a Radiohead cover, the Rage Against the Machine reunion, a giant pig floating up in the sky thanks to Roger Waters and the great Paul McCartney playing one of the best sets I have ever witnessed in my life. http://blogs.inlandsocal.com/music/2011/04/coachella-‐2011-‐arcade-‐fire-‐cra.html KROG 106.7FM 17 april The Arcade Fire Make It Rain Glowing Balloons Over Massive Coachella Audience The Arcade Fire made fighting the blistering heat of Coachella Day 2 completely worth it. Not only did they have over 70,000 fans singing along to every song but they hired an enormous crane hoist 1200 internally lit balloons above the crowd. Just before their encore, they gave the cue and it rained a rainbow of colors from the moonlit sky. As the mood and tempo changed, so did the colors of the giant orbs. It was the perfect way to end an incredible performance. http://kroq.radio.com/2011/04/17/photo-‐gallery-‐the-‐arcade-‐fire-‐make-‐it-‐rain-‐glowing-‐
balloons-‐over-‐massive-‐coachella-‐audience/#photo-‐1 BROOKLYN VEGAN, États-‐Unis 17 april 2011 Arcade Fire headlined Coachella, it was awesome, there were light up balloons! (pics, video, setlist) Arcade Fire headlined the main Coachella Stage Saturday night (their third and biggest time playing the annual California fest), and as if their sound and crowd size and setlist wasn't impressive and massive enough, a surprise came during "Wake Up," their last pre-‐encore song. Courtesy of Creators Project, who promised something big via a press release earlier in the day, lots of white balloons descended upon the crowd. But they weren't just any balloons. Honestly I don't know how they worked, but they lit up and changed colors as you can see in the pictures above and below. And they stayed lit up during the four-‐song encore that helped close out the second of three hot days of Coachella 2011. http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2011/04/arcade_fire_hea_1.html SPINNER CANADA, Canada 17 april 2011 | by Charley Rogulewski Arcade Fire Turn Coachella 2011 Crowd Into Art With Balloon Spectacle – Video As the opening guitar chords of the set closer 'Wake Up' began with almost every person automatically throwing their arms up into the sky while singing the "ahhahh" harmonies, a waterfall of giant white balloons poured out. Now, yeah, we've all seen balloons at rock shows before, but these weren't ordinary balloons. With the help of the Creators Project, who took initiative to beef up the visual performance element at Coachella this year, the balloons changed from one fluorescent color to the next, sometimes even in sync. The overall effect, when looked upon from above, made the audience look like another one of Coachella's glow-‐in-‐the-‐dark art installations. With the balloons bouncing around, Arcade Fire came back and followed up with a four-‐song encore, eventually finishing the evening with 'Sprawl II.' http://www.spinner.ca/2011/04/17/arcade-‐fire-‐coachella-‐2011/ EXAMINER.com, États-‐Unis 17 april 2011 | by Jodi Jill Arcade Fire has LED balloons at Coachella 2011 : Fans showered by colors In a one-‐of-‐a-‐kind performance for the day, the band had balloon type bubbles to amuse and share with the entire crowd. In a mysterious black box that was above the main stage, it unleashed a stream of LED bubble type balls that the crowd were recipients of during the performance of ‘Wake Up.’ As if it was a giant waterfall of balloons, these fell from above the stage to the crowd below and then the individual balloons lit up. Sometimes it was random colors, other times it was in unison. As the balloons bounced around above the audience it created a visually stunning art piece that gave another element to the show. This balloon phenomenon lasted for several minutes as the items continued to bounce around and go further back into the audience. (…) After the concert was over, the balloons were taken home in the night be concert goers who wanted a little piece of Arcade Fire to remember, even if it glowed in the dark. http://www.examiner.com/celebrity-‐headlines-‐in-‐national/arcade-‐fire-‐pulls-‐out-‐the-‐led-‐
balloons-‐fans-‐showered-‐by-‐colors-‐video IN MUSICA.CA, Canada 17 april 2011 | by Luke Fox Coachella Day 2: Canada’s Arcade Fire blaze as main-‐stage headliner But the grand finale belonged to our Grammy winners, Arcade Fire, whose late-‐night main-‐
stage closing set was decidedly more theatrical than the band’s daytime side-‐stage Coachella appearance six years ago (get a taste for both below). While all of the lights, the flickering jumbo screens, and the—wait for it—balloon lantern drop make for a calculated spectacle that the tens of thousands ate up with limbs in the air, the quality of the tunes still burns through. http://eatthis.inmusic.ca/2011/04/coachella-‐day-‐2-‐canadas-‐arcade-‐fire-‐blaze-‐as-‐main-‐
stage-‐headliner.html THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, États-‐Unis 17 april 2011 | by Jeff Miller Arcade Fire wows Coachella Audience With Light Show Literally. They actually had hundreds of them, which were released into the audience during the main set's final song, the epic “Wake Up.” Launched from atop and to the sides of the stage, each sphere was the size of a beach ball -‐-‐ and each, somehow, was magically lit up in varying shades of blue, red and green by remote control, creating an audience-‐wide light show as breathtaking and all-‐encompassing as can be hoped for at a concert on this massive scale. Audience members held the balls aloft through the encore, beginning with the radio hit “Ready To Start” and continuing through the slow-‐burning “Neighborhood #1”, and the bouncy 80's throwback “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”, all of which which came after an already emotionally hefty, cathartic set full of “whoa-‐oh-‐oh” singalongs and hand-‐
clap aggressiveness; in other words, any promise left for Arcade Fire to deliver (and any doubts of their newfound status as festival headliners) was put to rest, mightily. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/arcade-‐fire-‐wows-‐coachella-‐audience-‐179275 COED MAGAZINE, États-‐Unis 17 april 2011 | by COED Staff Arcade Fire’s Encore Coachella Performance Arcade Fire amazed the crowd of 100,000 with an encore performance to remember. With help from the bright young minds of Intel’s Creators Project the band released dozens of 8 foot white balloons into the crowd. Each balloon had a multi-‐colored LED light and were wireless synced to change color simultaneously to the beat of the band’s closing song “Ready to Start.” It’s hard to explain but the final product was mind blowing. We have a must-‐see video along with amazing hi-‐def pics below! http://coedmagazine.com/2011/04/17/arcade-‐fires-‐encore-‐coachella-‐performance-‐hd-‐
video-‐pictures/ PLSN (Projection, Lights and Staging News), États-‐Unis 27 april 2011 | by PLSN Glowing spheres Serve as LED Pixels at Arcade Fire’s Coachella Show During Arcade Fire's Coachella Festival performance April 16, more than 2,000 glowing interactive PixMob Zygote balls dropped from the sky like luminous dust. Montreal-‐based ESKI's PixMob technology can be used for unique crowd experiences by transforming groups of mobile objects with light-‐emitting LED pixels, which can then be precisely and instantly controlled relative to their real-‐time location. http://wherearetheynow-‐watn.blogspot.com/2011/04/coachella.html NOW (Blog) 17 april 2011 | by Jason Keller Arcade Fire, the kings of Coachella ! The glowing orbs that cascaded down from atop Coachella’s main stage during the final songs of Arcade Fire’s headlining set must have created quite a visual for Win Butler. The affable lead singer was, much like the incandescent beach balls raining down, beaming throughout the closing stages of a seamless Saturday night performance, proving convincingly that his band are at the peak of their powers. http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/music/story.cfm?content=180191 ART INFO, États-‐Unis 19 april 2011 | by ARTINFO How Intel and David Lynch Infiltrated Coachella With Sci-‐Fi Art Perhaps the most popular of these concert-‐enhancing art collaborations was "Summer Into Dust," for which American director Chris Milk arranged to have white balloons (inside of which L.E.D. lights gently pulsed to the music) fall into the crowd as the Arcade Fire show drew to a close. http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/37500/how-‐intel-‐and-‐david-‐lynch-‐infiltrated-‐coachella-‐
with-‐sci-‐fi-‐art/ SPIN, États-‐Unis 17 april 2011 | by William Goodman Arcade Fire’s Unforgettable Coachella Moment ! It was a sight to behold: Hundreds of giant flashing blue, purple, pink, red, and green balls dropping from a crane on top of the Coachella mainstage as Arcade Fire worked through "Wake Up," their final song of Saturday night's headlining set. http://www.spin.com/articles/arcade-‐fires-‐unforgettable-‐coachella-‐moment OCWEEKLY, États-‐Unis 21 april 2011 | by Lilledeshan Bose Coachella 2011 : Hits and Misses Well, it's done. The 2011 Coachella Music and Arts Festival had balloons raining from the sky, wristband technology, a way-‐more-‐organized ingress/egress system, celebrities from A-‐
listers to Z bags, a ton of great music, and not a lot of drama—which is just the way we like it. 2. ARCADE FIRE'S BALLOON-‐FILLED FINALE. Phish have done this every New Year's Eve gig since 1995, and it's a trick that never fails: Pour about 2,000 giant, light-‐up balloons onto a capacity festival audience during the set closer ("Wake Up"), and it's a guaranteed climax. Arcade Fire collaborated with director Chris Milk for the Creators' Project to do it; the balls were equipped with LED lights and infrared receivers. The rest of their set wasn't bad, either; headlining Saturday night's show meant that Arcade Fire sealed the deal: They are now a bona-‐fide arena band. http://www.ocweekly.com/2011-‐04-‐21/music/mental-‐notes-‐coachella-‐hits-‐and-‐misses/ WHERE ARE THEY NOW (Blog) 17 april 2011 | by Snap Coachella ! The highlight was definitely when they unleashed a giant wave of 1200 glowing LED-‐filled balloons from over top the stage, each about a meter in diameter and extremely bouncy. All I remember is looking over at Liam and seeing nothing but a sea of giant white balloons. The pictures really don't do it justice. http://wherearetheynow-‐watn.blogspot.com/2011/04/coachella.html