Admittedly, everyone was baffled by LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire’s decision to perform at Thanksgiving Point, a venue typically associated with weddings and Halloween activities. Either they wanted something nontraditional or someone didn’t know what they were doing. Or did they? Were we just clueless about the Point’s appeal?
If you haven’t lived there, gotten lost there, or have some sort of aberrant fascination with dinosaurs, you’d have no clue where
We kicked off the night with a tailgate party, something I assumed many others would participate in, but looking around the T-Giving Point parking lot, it seemed we were the only ones drinking our beverages out of reality TV show cups—scarlet red flags of alcoholism. But while no one joined us, no one narced us out either. We quickly accepted the fact that yes, we are the old people rearing to hear some music that most of the 15-year-olds in attendance would be embarrassed to see me dancing to.
LCD is a hard act to follow, no doubt, but Arcade Fire is a force to be reckoned with—and clearly the group 99.8 percent of the audience came to see. Everyone gathered around in anticipation. I shimmied my way through to find friends with only a few sardonic “What the hell do you think you are doing” or “No, you aren’t sorry” comments.
Arcade Fire boldly announced their presence onstage with more gusto and bandmates than a whorehouse in
After a unique demand for an encore—the crowd spontaneously started humming a refrain from one Arcade Fire song in unison until the band returned—they launched into “Old Flame,” an old number released prior to their name-making Funeral. They finished up with “Wake Up,” a cathartic song that satiated the now-sweaty and exhilarated audience. I’m guessing everyone was smiling, but since I’d succumbed to a nasty case of hiccups, so I listened to the remaining anthems in a sprawling parking lot. Amazingly , the sound was just as awesome outside the venue as it was within.
Turns out Lehi is alright. It was nice to wave goodbye to summer with this concert, but something tells me there won’t be many similar experiences in the near future. I do, however, look forward to many haystack rides in a hundred-acre fantasyland should I ever again choose a Thanksgiving Point adventure.