Arcade Fire have lost their minds — but in kind of a good way. Last night in Los Angeles, in their craziest live cover to date, the band performed a visceral version of Devo’s punk/new-wave anthem “Uncontrollable Urge.” They also continued to channel their alter-egos, The Reflektors, with frontman Win Butler donning that giant-ass bobble-head thing he’s been wearing onstage lately.
This is just the latest in a streak of weird Arcade Fire moves. Earlier this week, the band released their fourth LP, Reflektor (which I thought was solid but a bit disappointing for this band’s standards), and the roll-out toward the release date has been filled with craziness, including a graffiti-art campaign and a psychedelic concert promo that aired after an episode of SNL.
While Reflektor finds the band working with LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy, channeling a funkier, more electronic side of their sound, this Devo cover is shockingly raw and stripped-back. What do you think?
Check out the cover below (along with the original version, for comparison):
