If you watched through until the end of the season premiere of SNL last night, hosted by the glorious Tina Fey, you might've been slyly whisked away from musical guest Arcade Fire's performance on the SNL stage into an uncanny valley of music and film, comedy and artistry -- yet nothing is quite right. Directed by Roman Coppola, with guest appearances by Rainn Wilson, James Franco, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Ben Stiller, and even Bono, Arcade Fire's SNL concert special is a must see. So, without further ado, and to echo Fey's sendoff , "It's about to get a weird."
Arcade Fire is no stranger to pushing the limits of their medium, as well as melding with others. About a week ago we talked about how the band's interactive music videos do just that, especially with their newest video for their song "Reflektor," the first single released on their upcoming album of the same name. An even back in 2010, their HTML5 music video added a new dimension to interactivity.
Though their SNL performance-turned-prerecorded-secret-Montreal-salsa-club-show didn't follow suit in terms of audience interaction, it was still an exercise in capturing something bold and new -- bringing multiple mediums together to diversifying delivery. I mean sure, for as long as films have been around they've had music accompaniment, but director Roman Coppola used film in the same way, only this time to accompany the music instead of the other way around.
So, to preface it, the video picks up where SNL left off. At the end of the show, Arcade Fire performs a final song, and frontman Win Butler leads a nightmarish conga line of people in crazy costumes from the SNL stage to Montreal's Salsatheque. From there, the whole thing turns into a 1980s club fever dream of music interspersed with film -- including Zach Galifianakis addressing the crowd from space as an astronaut, as well as Michael Cera speaking perfect Spanish. The show is very meta, very Tim and Eric, and very experimental. Check it out below.
What did you think of Arcade Fire's special? Let us know in the comments.
[via Indiewire]
