Arcade Fire on SNL/another planet

The Arcade Fire helped to open up SNL’s umpteenth season with host Tina Fey last night, but took their contribution a step further by presenting a livecast concert Here Comes the Night Time after the show to showcase their new material in a fantasy Salsateca filled with disco mirrors and cross-promotional celebrity cameos, with James Franco, Michael Cera and Bill Heder all appearing as various characters before the music even started.

[Although these cameos were totally overshadowed by Aaron Paul randomly appearing several times in sketches as Jesse Pinkman, bitch]

The integration of modern relevant music acts and Saturday Night Live is anything but a new idea, but this particular spin on SNL’s relationship to the artist was a positive reflection of the potential future these sorts of collaborations have in a generation of such rapid media consumption.

First and foremost, thanks to Hulu, Netflix and Project Free TV, there is simply no longer a need for young people to gather and watch a variety show live, especially on a Saturday night when their social status could be adversely affected by their staying in.  However, as I sat in my living room with a group of friends huddled around our small analog TV drinking PBR, I began to understand what this meant in a larger cultural context.  Instead of passively consuming the background noise of SNL as we tapped away on Twitter and Buzzfeed, we were engaged and interested, laughing together at a shared medium. 

[via 'Back In the Day']

This is not to say we don’t religiously gather around the TV for our favorite Sunday night dramas (RIP Breaking Bad) but the context of giving one’s Saturday night to enjoy a cultural moment with your chosen circle of friends is important for more than just the content being viewed, but the temporary glimpse back it offers to this faux neo-nostalgia millenials crave, a reminder of the heyday of Nicktoons and pre-viral social conduct.

Also, the music kicked (and boogied) a significant amount of ass.  Just saying.  Our primary reasoning for joining together was primarily the promise of new material from one of our favorite acts in recent history, but in doing so we gained an experience not often afforded to our generation these days.  The result of our collective enjoyment was a feeling of gratification, of experiencing media, as opposed to our painfully post-postmodern M.O. of merely consuming it.

Either way, there are three basic, absolutely essential, non-theoretical points that must be taken away from this:

1)     Arcade Fire is a force to be reckoned with, and their new Haitian drummers are so effing rad, out Indie-ing even Ginger Drum Bro’s empassioned 2005 Coachelly performance. (PIC) It appears Winn Butler has maybe outgrown his Diva/basketball stealing ways, able to even laugh at himself during Tina Fey and Kenan Thompson’s swipes.

2)     AARON PAUL IS THE BEST HUMAN MEME ALIVE.

3)     Fuck Andy Samberg.  I’m still pissed about Joanna.

#TeamSharks

Watch the full Here Comes the Night Time post-SNL performance, directed by Roman Coppola here: