  Arcade Fire’s Win Butler thrills a sold-out crowd during the band ’s concert at Massey Hall. (DAVE THOMAS /SUN MEDIA)
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TORONTO - To say there was anticipation about The Arcade Fire's arrival in Toronto last night for the first of two sold-out shows at Massey Hall is a bit of an understatement.
Tickets for the Montreal indie outfit's appearances were snapped up in minutes and judging from the audience's feverish enthusiasm last night, the chamber-pop-punk band could have stayed all week.
Frontman Win Butler sensed the excitement in the room and encouraged people to immediately gather at the front of the stage opposite his group of noisy, shouting, merry music-makers, whose numbers swelled to 10 last night with horns, strings, bullhorn and church organ all present and accounted for.
"We're very happy to be here," said Butler, who underwent sinus surgery last month, leading the group to cancel their European tour.
Essentially, Butler -- a Texas native -- and his Haitian-born, Montreal-raised wife, singer and multi-instrumentalist Regine Chassagne, anchor the group, but there is a feeling of happy anarchy as the couple and many of their fellow musicians spend the night running around trying out different instruments.
They opened strongly and dramatically with Black Mirror, Keep the Car Running, Antichrist Television Blues and No Cars Go, all from their sophomore album, Neon Bible, whose title was reflected in both the set design and multi-media show.
Before The Arcade Fire even walked on stage, film of a televangelist played on two round video screens that would later broadcast images of individual band members singing and playing their instruments.
Red neon, meanwhile, was also prominent in the Bible imagery and various lighting standards decorating the stage.
It was a striking scene, as the band's infectious enthusiasm and obvious passion for their music inspired the audience to either clap, sing or both.
Chassagne, in particular, was a riveting stage presence as she performed some intrepretive dance moves while taking over lead vocals on Haiti, from The Arcade Fire's first album, Funeral, and later during the show-closer In the Backseat.
Over the course of the 90-minute set the band's first record was also respresented by such upbeat fan favourites as Neighborhood #2 (Laika), Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), Rebellion (Lies) and Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), which were matched in energy and intensity by the Neon Bible tune The Well And the Lighthouse.
If there was one major criticism, Neon Bible's darker and more downbeat fare like Intervention, the title track, My Body Is A Cage, Windowsill, and Ocean Of Noise didn't produce the same sparks in a live setting as they do on the record.
