Arcade Fire on SNL

So you say the Arcade Fire isn't coming to your town or ticket scalpers were able to land hundreds of tickets while your hungover attempt to score seats for their DC show was futile. Worry not faithful Arcade Fire fan, Saturday Night Live has become relevant for the first time in years and invited the Canadian sensations to perform. Those willing to suffer through Rainn Wilson and a few terrible skits were rewarded with two songs: "Intervention" and "Keep the Car Running".

"Intervention" has the feeling of "Rebellion Lies" from Funeral. A big sound (heavy on the organ) and an undeniable tension. The song starts with organ, bells and guitar and transitions with ease, adding in strings, bass and a french horn. While the song was tight and well played, Win really stole the show with charism and intensity (a "Joshua Tree"-era Bono????). About half way through the song, Win breaks a string on his guitar which irritated him, since as the song closed he broke several other strings and smashed his guitar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xia3WiqPUY



"Keep the Car Running" starts with the band playing drums, guitar, piano and a few other instruments that I'm pretty sure I have never seen before. Regine is playing something that kinda looks like a violin with a crank on it, yeah, beats the hell out of me. The song is fairly indescript and doesn't really go anywhere, but an indescript Arcade Fire song is still pretty great. It's a straight forward rock song with an airy, woodsy feel (I think due to Regine's crank instrument and a bass clarinet).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyu_VvR0i1Y