Arcade Fire’s USP is a kind of neurotic ecstasy: everything’s terrible (especially the internet), let’s dance. Their muscular opening number, Age of Anxiety I, is proof of concept. Win Butler plunges into the crowd while Régine Chassagne rakes the room with handheld green lasers and merrily chants: “Anxiety!” Above them, on the backcloth, a giant red eye surveys the action. It’s a reference to Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We, the 1920s dystopian novel that inspired the title and theme of their new album.
