omfg, that was an amazing show.

ps, morgan is an incredible photog

Grandiose. This was one for the ages. The Arcade Fire pulled out all the stops for their Monday night performance at the University of Washington. What does "pulled out all the stops" mean? Hell I don't really know, but in this case it means they rocked the house in many ways. For starters, I have never seen a better produced light and video display in my life. The set kicked off with video of seedy televangelists and religious performers making fools of themselves. The Neon Bible logo was prominent behind and above band members changing colors and animating in various ways throughout their set. They used old footage, live shots of band members run through filters and projected behind them on the stage. They also set up bendable color-changing light wands evenly spaced out at the front of the stage. Whoever produced this show found just the right mix of colors and video to complement the band's emotionally charged music.

Not that this music needed any help. The mix sounded better live than it does on any of their groundbreaking CDs. Picture, if you will, a religious experience where the preacher(s) are the Arcade Fire band members (all 10 of them) and the gospel is their intensely passionate songs. The fans (on the floor) were as excited as any I have ever seen. They were raising their hands, jumping and dancing in a manner that would rival even the rowdiest Holy Ghost Revival. It was surreal how wonderful this show was. This was a one of a kind feeling that only comes from a musical performance executed so perfectly and so beautifully.

Regardless of whether you were religious or not, for Arcade Fire fans on Monday night the Bank of America Arena at UW was truly Heaven.