Saturday’s season premiere of Saturday Night Live was meant to showcase the new cast members of the venerable sketch comedy program, but it quickly became the Arcade Fire show. In addition to their two songs on SNL, NBC gave the Montreal band a half-hour special immediately afterwards.
The performance was the first time most of the world has heard anything other than single “Reflektor” from the new album of the same name. The band was also joined on stage by a motley crew of celebrities, from Ben Stiller and Bono to Zach Galifianakis and Michael Cera.
The special appears to have been shot earlier in September at a secret show in a Montreal salsa bar. The little-advertised show by “The Reflektors” drew hundreds of Arcade Fire fans who recognized the clue, and even showed up in costume as the band had asked.
As for how the band paid for half an hour of air time on NBC, it appears it was funded by The Creators Project, a joint venture by chip-maker Intel and Vice, the hipster media company once based in Montreal.
Here’s the tracklist for Reflektor, which comes out on Merge Records Oct. 29:
“Vol. I”
“Reflektor”
“We Exist”
“Flashbulb Eyes”
“Here Comes The Night Time”
“Normal Person”
“You Already Know”
“Joan of Arc”
“Vol. II”
“Here Comes The Night Time II”
“Awful Sound (Oh, Eurydice)”
“It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus)”
“Porno”
“Afterlife”
“Supersymmetry”
