ARCADE FIRE - PUT YOUR MONEY ON ME

Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. Its touring line-up has included former core member Sarah Neufeld and multi-instrumentalists Paul Beaubrun and Dan Boeckner. Composer and violinist Owen Pallett has contributed to most of the band's studio albums and has also performed as a touring member. Founded in 2001 by friends and former classmates Win Butler and Josh Deu, Arcade Fire gained prominence in 2004 with the release of their debut studio album, "Funeral". Their second album, "Neon Bible" (2007), won the 2008 Meteor Music Award for Best International Album and the 2008 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year. Their third album, "The Suburbs" (2010), achieved critical and commercial success, winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, the Juno Award for Album of the Year and the Brit Award for Best International Album in 2011. In 2013, the band released their fourth album, "Reflektor", and contributed to the soundtrack of the film "Her", for which Pallett and then-member Will Butler received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score. Their fifth album, "Everything Now", was released in 2017, followed by "We" in 2022 and "Pink Elephant" in 2025. All of the band's studio albums from "Funeral" to "We" received Grammy Award nominations for Best Alternative Music Album. "Funeral" has frequently been included in critics' selections of the greatest albums of the 2000s. Arcade Fire has also been shortlisted three times for the Polaris Music Prize, for "Neon Bible" in 2007, "The Suburbs" in 2011 and "Reflektor" in 2014. The band's music has been described as indie rock, art rock, dance-rock and baroque pop. Its instrumentation includes guitar, drums, bass guitar, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboards, synthesizers, French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin and hurdy-gurdy. Members frequently exchange instruments during live performances. In 2001, Win Butler and Josh Deu founded Arcade Fire in Montreal, having first met as students at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Their musical collaboration developed while Butler attended McGill University and Deu attended Concordia University. The pair began rehearsing their material in Montreal, where they met Régine Chassagne, a music student whom they invited to join the group. Deu later recalled that he and Butler initially played guitar and had little material to present to Chassagne, who nevertheless agreed to join. By mid-2001, the band's line-up included Butler, Chassagne, Deu, multi-instrumentalist Tim Kile, bassist Myles Broscoe, guitarist and drummer Dane Mills, and multi-instrumentalist Brendan Reed. Kile later became a member of Wild Light, Broscoe played in Les Angles Morts, Crystal Clyffs and AIDS Wolf, Mills joined Crackpot, and Reed subsequently became a member of Les Angles Morts and co-founded Clues. Reed also collaborated with Butler and Chassagne on songwriting and arrangements between 2001 and 2003. During a party in 2001, the band recorded a live Christmas album entitled "A Very Arcade Xmas", which was reportedly distributed among friends as a Christmas gift. The original line-up began to disintegrate in the summer of 2002, when the members travelled to Butler's family farm on Mount Desert Island, Maine, to record their self-titled extended play (EP). Tensions between Butler and Broscoe resulted in the latter leaving the band after the recording sessions. Richard Reed Parry, who had initially been recruited to assist with the recording, began collaborating with the group and subsequently became a member. Deu also departed to resume his studies but continued to contribute to the band's visual identity. In the winter of 2003, Arcade Fire celebrated the release of their EP with a concert at Casa del Popolo in Montreal. During the performance, an argument between Butler and Reed resulted in Reed leaving the band on stage. Mills subsequently announced to members of the audience that he considered the group disbanded and also departed. Butler's brother Will Butler and Tim Kingsbury joined the band to replace Reed and Mills, allowing the group to continue promoting its self-titled EP, which was sold at early concerts. Following the band's subsequent success, the EP was remastered and officially reissued. Drummer Howard Bilerman joined the group in the summer of 2003. The expanded line-up began performing together and recording material for what became "Funeral". The band's early live performances attracted the attention of independent record label Merge Records, which signed them to a recording contract during their first year together. Regarding the origin of the band's name, Win Butler explained that it was based on a story someone had told him about a fire in an arcade. Although he initially believed the story, he acknowledged that it may have been fictional. Arcade Fire has cited David Bowie, Talking Heads, Bruce Springsteen, Roxy Music, Radiohead and U2 among its influences. The band and its longtime orchestral arranger Owen Pallett have also identified Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's 1983 album "Dazzle Ships" as an inspiration. Arcade Fire released their debut studio album, "Funeral", in September 2004 in Canada and February 2005 in the United Kingdom. The album's title referred to the deaths of several relatives of band members during its recording, including the grandfather of Win and Will Butler, composer and arranger Alvino Rey. These events contributed to the album's sombre atmosphere and influenced songs such as "Une année sans lumière", "In the Backseat" and "Haïti", the latter written by Chassagne as a tribute to her homeland. "Funeral" received widespread critical acclaim and appeared on numerous year-end and decade-end album lists. It was particularly prominent in critics' selections of the best albums of 2004 and 2005, with publications including Pitchfork, Filter, No Ripcord and MTV2 naming it their album of the year. NME ranked it second on its list of the best albums of 2005 and placed "Rebellion (Lies)" second among the year's best tracks. The album also ranked second on Pitchfork's list of the 200 best albums of the 2000s, published in 2009, behind Radiohead's "Kid A". In a later edition of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, it was ranked 500th. By November 2005, "Funeral" had been certified gold in Canada and the United Kingdom and had sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide, an achievement for an independent release with limited television and radio exposure. It became Merge Records' first album to enter the Billboard 200 and its best-selling release at the time, surpassing Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea". The band initially scheduled small venues for its 2004 tour, but increasing demand resulted in numerous venue changes. The tour continued into mid-2005, covering the United States, Canada and Europe, as well as appearances at the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan and the Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario. During the summer of 2005, the band performed at several major festivals, including the Halifax Pop Explosion, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Sasquatch! Music Festival, Lollapalooza, Vegoose, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Electric Picnic and Lowlands. On 1 February 2005, Arcade Fire performed "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)" on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". The band appeared on the cover of the Canadian edition of Time magazine on 4 April 2005 and performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 1 May. In May, they signed a short-term publishing agreement with EMI covering "Funeral". The following month, they released "Cold Wind", a song featured on the television soundtrack album "Six Feet Under, Vol. 2: Everything Ends". The BBC used "Wake Up" in promotional material for its autumn 2005 programming and subsequently featured "Rebellion (Lies)" and "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" in advertisements in January 2006. On 9 September 2005, Arcade Fire performed on the television special "Fashion Rocks", accompanied by David Bowie for "Wake Up". Recordings of the performance and the band's collaborations with Bowie on "Life on Mars?" and "Five Years" were released through the iTunes Music Store as a live EP. During the same visit to New York City, the band appeared on "Late Show with David Letterman" and performed a concert in Central Park, where Bowie made a surprise appearance. On 11 September 2005, Arcade Fire performed "Rebellion (Lies)" on the BBC music programme "Top of the Pops". They also appeared on the French television channel Canal+, with the performance subsequently broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. The singles "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" and "Wake Up" reached number one on the MTV2 UK NME Chart Show. The latter spent three weeks at the top of the chart following its release by Rough Trade Records as a 7-inch vinyl single. "Wake Up" was played before concerts by U2 during the Irish band's 2005–2006 Vertigo Tour. Arcade Fire subsequently supported U2 at three concerts and joined them on stage during the encore of the third performance in Montreal, where they performed a cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart". "Wake Up" was also adopted as recurring closing music by the American sports radio programme "The Dan Patrick Show" and featured during the television broadcast of Super Bowl XLIV in February 2010. "Funeral" and "Cold Wind" received Grammy Award nominations for Best Alternative Rock Album and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, respectively. On 2 April 2006, Arcade Fire received the Juno Award for Songwriters of the Year in recognition of "Wake Up", "Rebellion (Lies)" and "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)". The band was also nominated for three Brit Awards in 2006: Best International Group, Best International Album and Best International Breakthrough Act. On 12 May 2005, Arcade Fire appeared on the BBC programme "Later... with Jools Holland", performing "Power Out" and "Rebellion (Lies)". In October 2007, "Funeral" was ranked eighth in Bob Mersereau's book "The Top 100 Canadian Albums". The album was also ranked second on Pitchfork's list of the best 200 albums of the 2000s in late 2009. Arcade Fire began recording their second studio album, "Neon Bible", after purchasing a disused church in Farnham, Quebec, approximately 70 kilometres southeast of Montreal, during the period between the release of "Funeral" and the commencement of recording sessions. The band converted the building into a recording studio in early 2006. The first track from "Neon Bible" to be officially released was "Intervention", which appeared on iTunes in December 2006. Proceeds from the release were donated to Partners in Health, a non-profit healthcare organisation. A second track, "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations", was briefly made available on the platform due to a technical error. The album leaked onto peer-to-peer networks on 26 January 2007 and was officially released in the United Kingdom on 5 March and in North America on 6 March. "Neon Bible" debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart and the Irish Albums Chart, and at number two on the US Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart during the week of 12 March 2007. It also topped the rock and independent album charts. The album's first official single, "Black Mirror", spent five consecutive weeks at number one on CBC Radio 3's R3-30 chart from 22 March to 19 April 2007, becoming the first single to remain at the top of the chart for more than two weeks. The album received widespread critical acclaim. British music magazine Q described Arcade Fire as one of the most exciting acts in the world, while Paste included "Neon Bible" among its five best albums of 2007. Trouser Press writer Jason Reeher subsequently ranked it among the greatest indie rock recordings. On 24 February 2007, Arcade Fire made their debut appearance on "Saturday Night Live", performing "Intervention" and "Keep the Car Running". Pallett was absent because he was recording material for his solo project. During the performance, a guitar string broke on Win Butler's instrument, prompting him to remove the remaining strings and smash the guitar on the floor until it broke. The instrument bore the Haitian Creole phrase "sak vide pa kanpe", meaning "an empty sack cannot stand up", which was interpreted as a possible reference to Haiti, Chassagne's country of origin. On 10 July 2007, "Neon Bible" was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. Patrick Watson subsequently won the award at a ceremony on 24 September. Arcade Fire did not include a track on the promotional compilation associated with the prize, reflecting the band's preference not to participate in compilation albums. Following media reports that the omission represented a rejection by the Polaris committee, the band and the committee issued a joint statement clarifying that the decision had been made by the band. The "Neon Bible" tour continued into November 2007, with more than 25 performances scheduled across North America and Europe. In early 2008, Arcade Fire toured Australia and New Zealand for the first time as part of the Big Day Out festival. On 14 October 2007, Win Butler and Régine Chassagne made a surprise appearance at a Bruce Springsteen concert in Ottawa, performing "State Trooper" and "Keep the Car Running". The band pledged to donate one dollar, one pound or one euro from every ticket sold during its 2008 European and North American tours to Partners in Health. Arcade Fire also contributed the song "Lenin" to the Red Hot Organization's 2009 charity compilation "Dark Was the Night". Proceeds from the album exceeded $850,000 for AIDS-related charities, including $300,000 donated to Partners in Health on the band's behalf. In February 2008, Win Butler announced that the "Neon Bible" tour had concluded after approximately one year, comprising 122 performances, including 33 festival appearances, across 75 cities in 19 countries. The album had received positive reviews from publications including NME and IGN, which praised its expansive musical arrangements. Butler publicly supported Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008. Arcade Fire performed free concerts in Cleveland and Nelsonville, Ohio, on 2 and 3 March, ahead of the state's Democratic primary. The band subsequently performed with Superchunk at free concerts in Greensboro and Carrboro, North Carolina, on 1 and 2 May, before the state's primary election on 6 May. On 21 January 2009, Arcade Fire and Jay-Z performed at the Obama campaign staff ball at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C., at the request of the newly inaugurated president. During the event, Butler thanked Obama for his stated intention to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and acknowledged the campaign staff's work during the election. The band was also rumoured to be collaborating with producer Markus Dravs on the soundtrack for Richard Kelly's film "The Box". Butler denied the reports but stated that he and Pallett might contribute one or two instrumental compositions. In December 2008, Pitchfork reported that Arcade Fire had established a website, miroir-noir.com, to promote a concert film documenting the "Neon Bible" tour. Directed by Vincent Morisset, "Miroir Noir" was made available for digital pre-order on 15 December 2008, with immediate digital access, while the DVD was released on 31 March 2009. A re-recorded version of "Wake Up" appeared in the trailer for Spike Jonze's 2009 film "Where the Wild Things Are". The band donated the proceeds from licensing the song to the National Football League for use in advertisements during Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 to Partners in Health. The song was also regularly used as background music on American sports radio programmes, including "The Dan Patrick Show" and "The Petros and Money Show". Arcade Fire announced their third studio album, "The Suburbs", on 27 May 2010, alongside plans to release a double-sided 12-inch single on the same date as the album. The album was released in the United Kingdom on 2 August and in the United States and Canada on 3 August 2010. It was produced by Markus Dravs, who had also worked on "Neon Bible", and engineered by Marcus Paquin. The album was issued with eight different cover designs. The band announced its first performance in support of the album at the Oxegen festival in Ireland in July 2010, followed by headline appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August. Win Butler expressed enthusiasm about performing the new material live after the extended recording period. In July 2010, Arcade Fire announced that their 5 August concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City would be streamed live on YouTube. The concert was directed by filmmaker Terry Gilliam. The album was released worldwide in early August to widespread critical acclaim, with reviews frequently comparing it favourably to "Funeral" and "Neon Bible". During the 2010 tour, Arcade Fire paid tribute to musician Jay Reatard by performing a cover of his song "Oh, It's Such a Shame". Butler later explained in an interview with Zane Lowe that the band had intended to invite Reatard to support them on the tour, but he had died before it began. "The Suburbs" debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 156,000 copies in its first week. It also topped the album charts in the United Kingdom and Canada. In August 2010, Arcade Fire collaborated with Google and production company B-Reel on an interactive music video for "We Used to Wait", directed by Chris Milk. The video incorporated the viewer's childhood address to generate a personalised experience and demonstrated features of HTML5 and the Google Chrome browser. On 13 November 2010, Arcade Fire made their second appearance on "Saturday Night Live", performing "We Used to Wait" and "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)". "The Suburbs" subsequently won Album of the Year at the 2011 Grammy Awards, Best International Album at the 2011 Brit Awards, Album of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year at the 2011 Juno Awards, and the 2011 Polaris Music Prize. Following the Grammy Award ceremony, the album rose from number 52 to number 12 on the Billboard 200, marking its highest chart position since August 2010. Arcade Fire performed at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in February 2011, where the album received nominations for Album of the Year and Best Alternative Music Album, while the band was also nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. At the 2011 Brit Awards, Arcade Fire won Best International Group in addition to the award for Best International Album for "The Suburbs". At the 2011 Juno Awards, the band received Group of the Year and Songwriter of the Year for "Ready to Start", "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" and "We Used to Wait". The album also won Album of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year. On 19 April 2011, the band announced a deluxe edition of "The Suburbs", featuring the short film "Scenes from the Suburbs", directed by Spike Jonze, and two additional songs, "Culture War" and "Speaking in Tongues", the latter featuring David Byrne. The 30-minute film premiered at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival and was subsequently screened at the SXSW Film Festival. It premiered online through MUBI on 27 June 2011. Canadian Press journalist Nick Patch described the film as combining elements of science fiction, paranoia and nostalgia. "The Suburbs" was longlisted for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize on 16 June and shortlisted on 6 July. Arcade Fire won the prize on 20 September 2011. On 19 May 2012, Arcade Fire, without Will Butler and Tim Kingsbury, made their third appearance on "Saturday Night Live", serving as the backing band for host and musical guest Mick Jagger. They performed the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time" with Jagger and participated in Kristen Wiig's farewell sketch, performing "She's a Rainbow" and "Ruby Tuesday". The band wore red squares, known as carrés rouges, in support of the 2012 Quebec student protests. Arcade Fire contributed "Abraham's Daughter" to the soundtrack album "The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond", released on 20 March 2012. The song appeared during the end credits of the film "The Hunger Games". The soundtrack debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling more than 175,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It was the first theatrical film soundtrack to reach the top of the chart since Michael Jackson's "This Is It" and the sixteenth soundtrack to debut at number one. The band also contributed to the film's original score, "The Hunger Games: Original Motion Picture Score", composing "Horn of Plenty", a national anthem for the fictional nation of Panem. The composition served as a recurring musical theme throughout the film. Butler and Chassagne co-wrote the piece, which Butler described as an imagined anthem reflecting the fictional government's self-image. Composer James Newton Howard subsequently adapted it for the film's score. The composition received positive reviews, with Spin describing it as resembling both Arcade Fire's established musical style and a futuristic national anthem. Arcade Fire and Mercury Records confirmed in 2012 that the band was working on a fourth studio album for release in 2013. In December 2012, manager Scott Rodger announced that the band was recording with regular producer Markus Dravs and James Murphy, the frontman of LCD Soundsystem. The band's pre-order website initially listed 28 October 2013 as the release date, before the band confirmed 29 October in July 2013. On 18 January 2013, Arcade Fire announced that they were selling the church in Farnham that had served as their recording studio, following the collapse of its roof. Recording continued at several studios, including Murphy's DFA Records studio in New York City. In June 2013, Rolling Stone reported that new material would be released on 9 September. During the album's production, Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett composed the original score for Spike Jonze's science fiction romantic film "Her", released in 2013. The band also wrote "Supersymmetry", which later appeared on "Reflektor", and contributed musical material to the soundtrack, including a melody featured in "Porno". Will Butler and Pallett received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score at the 86th Academy Awards. The score was not officially released until 2021. In August 2013, images of street art bearing the word "Reflektor" appeared online, prompting speculation about the album's title. The promotional campaign included an Instagram account and references to 9 September at 9 pm. Arcade Fire confirmed its involvement with a billboard in New York City on 26 August. A 15-second music clip, titled "9pm 9/9", was subsequently released on Spotify under the album name "Reflektor". English musician David Bowie contributed backing vocals to the album's title track after expressing his admiration for the song in 2013. In September of that year, Arcade Fire also recorded a cover of Peter Gabriel's 1980 single "Games Without Frontiers" for the tribute album "And I'll Scratch Yours". Released on 29 October 2013, "Reflektor" received generally positive reviews from music critics and achieved commercial success. The album was subsequently included in Pitchfork's 2014 list of the 100 best albums of the decade to that point. On 28 September 2013, Arcade Fire appeared as the musical guest on the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live", which attracted approximately six million viewers. The band also featured in the half-hour NBC television special "Arcade Fire in Here Comes the Night Time", broadcast immediately after the programme. The special included appearances by Ben Stiller, Bono, Bill Hader, Zach Galifianakis, Rainn Wilson, Aziz Ansari, Eric Wareheim and Michael Cera. Concert footage was filmed during a surprise performance at Montreal's Club Salsathèque on 9 September 2013. Arcade Fire performed at the YouTube Music Awards on 3 November 2013, in a production featuring an experimental live video directed by Jonze and actress Greta Gerwig. The band received nominations for the Satellite Award for Best Original Score and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Music Score for "Her". On 27 June 2014, Arcade Fire headlined the Glastonbury Festival. At the 2014 Juno Awards, "Reflektor" won Album of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year. The album was also shortlisted for the 2014 Polaris Music Prize. In 2015, Arcade Fire received the International Achievement Award at the SOCAN Awards in Montreal. A documentary about the making of "Reflektor", titled "The Reflektor Tapes", premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and was released on 24 September 2015. Directed by Kahlil Joseph, who had won the 2013 Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for Short Films, the documentary was accompanied by a deluxe edition of "Reflektor", released the following day and featuring original recordings and five previously unreleased songs. On 25 May 2016, Win Butler and Régine Chassagne performed a surprise set outside the Louvre in Paris, where they played new material. The pair had been invited by French street artist JR to DJ at the opening of his exhibition "JR Au Louvre", but instead performed with drums and keyboards in the Tuileries Garden. On 17 June 2016, Will Butler participated in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session, during which he stated that Arcade Fire's next album might be released in spring 2017, although the band had no fixed schedule. On 5 July, the band performed its first full-group concert in two years in Barcelona, Spain, as a warm-up for summer festival appearances in Canada, Portugal, Spain and the United States. Later that month, Tim Kingsbury confirmed to CBC that the band's fifth studio album was expected in 2017. On 19 January 2017, Arcade Fire released the single "I Give You Power", featuring guest vocals by Mavis Staples, to coincide with the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States. Proceeds from the song were donated to the American Civil Liberties Union. In May 2017, Arcade Fire signed a two-album recording contract with Columbia Records. On 31 May, the band released a limited-edition 12-inch vinyl single of "Everything Now" at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, where they also performed in early June. The band announced its fifth studio album, "Everything Now", on 1 June 2017, and released the title track's music video. The album was released on 28 July 2017. In July 2017, "Everything Now" became Arcade Fire's first single to reach number one on a Billboard chart, topping the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart. In October, longtime manager Scott Rodger and the band ended their professional relationship. On 12 March 2018, Arcade Fire announced the short film "Money + Love", directed by David Wilson and featuring the songs "Put Your Money on Me" and "We Don't Deserve Love". The film was released on 15 March. On 17 March, the band made its fifth appearance on "Saturday Night Live", performing "Creature Comfort" and "Put Your Money on Me". In 2019, Arcade Fire recorded a version of "Baby Mine", originally written by Frank Churchill and Ned Washington for the 1941 animated film "Dumbo", for the end credits of the 2019 live-action adaptation of "Dumbo". The recording was released as a single on 11 March 2019. On 21 October 2020, Win Butler discussed Arcade Fire's sixth studio album during an interview on the "Broken Record" podcast. He stated that the band had been writing material for approximately a year before the COVID-19 lockdown and that he had continued writing during the pandemic, producing material for two or three albums. In April 2020, Butler shared excerpts of new music on social media. On 14 April 2021, Arcade Fire released a 45-minute instrumental composition titled "Memories of the Age of Anxiety" through the meditation application Headspace. In March 2022, fans received postcards bearing the band's logo, the message "We missed you", musical notation and an image of an eye accompanied by the word "Unsubscribe". Similar imagery appeared on billboards in London and on the band's social media accounts, preceding the announcement of a new album. On 14 March, Arcade Fire announced that the single "The Lightning I, II" would be released on 17 March. The band also performed its first full-group concert in more than two years on 14 March at the Toulouse Theatre in New Orleans, raising funds for the Plus 1 Ukraine relief fund. Further benefit concerts took place at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on 18 and 19 March, with tickets sold on a pay-what-you-can basis. On 17 March 2022, Arcade Fire announced that their sixth studio album, "We", would be released on 6 May. Later that week, Will Butler announced that he had amicably left the band in 2021, shortly after the album's completion. Following the release of "We" on 6 May 2022, Arcade Fire announced the "WE" Tour, their first world tour since 2018, which began in August 2022. On 7 May, the band made its sixth appearance on "Saturday Night Live", performing "Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)", "The Lightning I, II" and "End of the Empire II" during the closing credits. At the end of the Mother's Day broadcast, Win Butler expressed support for women's reproductive rights. On 27 August 2022, four people publicly accused Win Butler of sexual misconduct involving incidents alleged to have occurred between 2016 and 2020. The allegations included sexual assault, unsolicited explicit text messages and pursuing relationships with younger fans aged between 18 and 23. Butler and Chassagne denied the allegations, stating that the encounters had been consensual. In response, Canadian singer-songwriter Feist withdrew as the opening act for the European leg of the "WE" Tour, donating proceeds from the two concerts she had already performed to a women's aid organisation in Dublin. Beck subsequently withdrew as the opening act for the North American leg of the tour. In November 2022, Arcade Fire were announced as headliners for the 2023 editions of the Kalorama festival in Lisbon, Portugal, and the Cala Mijas festival in Málaga, Spain. In April 2023, they were added to Pharrell Williams' Something in the Water festival in Virginia Beach, Virginia. In June, the band was announced as a Friday headliner for the Corona Capital festival in Mexico City in November. In 2024, Arcade Fire headlined several festivals, including the South American editions of Lollapalooza, Shaky Knees in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bilbao BBK Live in Bilbao, Spain. In March 2025, members of Arcade Fire performed at Luck Reunion near Austin, Texas, where they debuted songs from their forthcoming album, including "Pink Elephant", "Ride or Die" and "Year of the Snake". On 4 April, the band released a teaser video on social media and launched a mobile application named Trust, through which it shared video clips and new music, including the song "Cars and Telephones". On 7 April 2025, Win Butler and Régine Chassagne announced the band's seventh studio album, "Pink Elephant", at the conclusion of a radio mix broadcast through the Trust application. The album was released on 9 May 2025. To promote the album, Arcade Fire embarked on a series of live preview performances under the title "Don't Think About Pink Elephant". The tour began in Mexico City on 22 April 2025 and included nine concerts in North America before concluding with a one-off performance in London on 14 May. Before the first concert, the band announced that Richard Reed Parry would be absent from the tour while he and his wife prepared for the birth of their first child. On 10 May 2025, Arcade Fire made their seventh appearance on "Saturday Night Live", performing "Year of the Snake" and "Pink Elephant" during the penultimate episode of the programme's fiftieth season. The broadcast attracted approximately 4.215 million viewers in the United States. On 9 June 2025, the band appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", where they performed "Circle of Trust". On 30 October 2025, Arcade Fire announced on Instagram that Win Butler and Régine Chassagne had decided to separate. On 4 February 2026, Arcade Fire announced "Open Your Heart or Die Trying", an ambient companion album to "Pink Elephant". The album was initially released exclusively for Record Store Day on 18 April 2026. The band described it as an ambient interpretation of "Pink Elephant", imagining the album as a new sonic landscape and a soundtrack to a film that had not been made. It was subsequently released on digital streaming platforms on 1 May 2026. Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_Fire Studio albums Funeral (2004) Neon Bible (2007) The Suburbs (2010) Reflektor (2013) Everything Now (2017) We (2022) Pink Elephant (2025) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.