These kids know.

Arcade Fire were on good old Conan O'Brien's show earlier this evening. Through the magic of the internet I have been able to witness this blessed event even though NBC refuses to come in on our cable-free television. Seriously, the only good thing about everyone and their mom knowing about the Arcade Fire is that I can download so much crap, and not all of it illegal either, thank you. Conan appearances, demos, concert recordings, unreleased songs, etc. The world of indie rock is at my fingertips. Thanks to the devoted fans (ie crazies) on the Us Kids Know Forums anyone can hear an mp3 or watch a video of this particular performace at their leisure.
So, onto the performance itself. I am wondering why they chose to play Neighborhood #3 (Laika). There was some talk on the Us Kids Know boards that the band may have chosen that one in particular because it is the shortest of all of the Funeral tracks and musical guests are generally asked to keep songs at a 4 minute maximum. This could be valid, as I know that Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) and now Rebellion (Lies) are the two tracks that have been marketed as singles. At the same time, Laika is, after all, the song in which Richard Parry dons his motorcycle helmet and pounds the shit out of everything in sight with his splintering drumsticks, which he does here. Don't you worry. And I think we all know that that makes for a damn fine performance. I'm pretty sure that they all agreed that they couldn't go wrong with that one. However, in doing this they opted out of any tracks that feature the simultaneous crooning of all of the band members, which is magical while watching them perform live. This time it was theatrics over the more subtle greatness that these band members possess when together. This time. I imagine that it was a wise decision. What better way to pique the interests of strangers than to have some dude in your band that just happens to look like Napoleon Dynamite slap on a motorcycle helmet and pound on high hats and a shoulder-slung drum and whatever else he can see while you're playing on national television for the first time? Try to think of one, I challenge you!
But anyway, always lovely to see the Arcade Fire perform. They got the stuff, even on the weird late night talk show platform.