Arcade Fire Prep New Disc, Biggest Tour Ever

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On August 3, Arcade Fire are releasing one of the year’s most anticipated albums, The Suburbs, on Merge Records. The next day, the group officially jumps from indie-rock stardom to the big time with the first of two shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden, part of a two-month summer tour in which Arcade Fire are playing to their biggest crowds ever.

“Part of the cool thing about playing these shows is that you lose control,” says singer-songwriter-guitarist Win Butler. “It’s not just indie-rock people out there. It’s a weird assortment, and you don’t know how you’re going to impact people.”

At recent shows in Europe and Canada, Arcade Fire have already been playing nearly half of The Suburbs live. The record ”“ a dynamic blend of post-punk urgency, pop hooks and arena-rock force ”“ was loosely inspired by Butler’s memories of his adolescence in suburban Texas. But, he insists, “the idea of the suburbs is more of a meeting place, where the people and action happen to be located.”

Arcade Fire have also launched a fundraising drive with KANPE, a program co-founded by Butler’s wife, singer Régine Chassagne, to fight poverty and directly assist families and community services in Haiti. The band will match donations to KANPE (“to stand up” in Creole) up to $1 million. “I don’t want to be someone who smiles and takes a photo for a cause,” says Chassagne, who is of Haitian descent. “I want to do something.”