This Fire Is Out of Control

Whether or not you think the untamed fires of freedom are genuinely spreading, there's no doubt that the hype about The Arcade Fire is. Saw them play a show tonight and I was seriously skeptical that they -- or anyone for that matter -- could live up to the hype. But they do. I bought my ticket back in early December at the listed price of $13. Walking over to the 9:30 club, I was offered $60 for it -- a nice $47 profit. Needless to say, I didn't sell. In retrospect, however, if the tickets had gone on sale for $47 in December, I wouldn't have bought one, even though I was happy to incur a $47 opportunity cost to see the show. Similarly, if back before I bought my ticket someone had said, "hey, I'll give you 47 bucks if you promise not to see the Arcade Fire on January 30," I probably would have taken him up on the offer. This is, I think, a typical pattern of preferences, though a highly irrational one in a formal sense.

At any rate, since DC is lame I believe this is near the end of the tour, but if the band happens to be coming to a town near you in the future, definitely check it out. Their album, I think, is very good, though not exactly The Greatest Thing Ever as some have implied. The live show, however, is truly superb, the best I've seen in quite some time.