When Arcade Fire closed out the first weekend of Coachella 2014 on April 13, they didn’t just play a headlining set—they delivered a full-blown communal celebration that felt equal parts rock concert, dance party, and spiritual revival. From the first pulsing beat of Reflektor to the euphoric sing-along of Wake Up, the Montreal collective transformed the Empire Polo Club into something more than a festival field. For nearly two hours, the band proved why they remain one of the most vital live acts of their generation.
I’d been waiting for this set all weekend. Arcade Fire were riding high after the release of Reflektor, an album that found them leaning hard into disco rhythms and global grooves while keeping the grand emotional sweep of their earlier work. The band had already toured the album across arenas, but seeing them take over the Coachella main stage—where the stakes and the scale are equally enormous—was another thing entirely. By the time the lights dimmed and the opening synths kicked in, it was clear they came to turn the desert into their own glitter-covered cathedral.
A Setlist That Traced Their Whole Arc
Arcade Fire didn’t waste a second, launching straight into “Reflektor”, a song built for big stages and bigger crowds. The mirrored disco ball overhead caught every flicker of light as the band stretched the song into an ecstatic jam, the percussive beats ricocheting across the polo grounds. “Flashbulb Eyes” followed, a sly nod to the camera-happy festival crowd. Win Butler delivered its sharp lines with a playful sneer while the crowd swayed to the reggae-tinged groove.
From there, they dove into the heart of their catalog. “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)” came crashing in like a lightning strike, the guitars slicing through the desert night as thousands of fists punched the air. Without missing a beat, they slid into “Rebellion (Lies)”, the ultimate call-and-response anthem. Hearing tens of thousands of voices shout “Sleeping is giving in!” felt like the kind of moment Coachella was invented for.
The band balanced their new material with older fan favorites all night. “Joan of Arc” pulsed with punk energy, while “The Suburbs” and “The Suburbs (Continued)” brought a bittersweet beauty, their gentle melodies cutting through the party atmosphere and offering a quiet moment of reflection. Win’s voice carried the weight of nostalgia, and when Régine Chassagne’s harmonies floated in, it felt like being pulled back into a half-remembered childhood.
A Middle Stretch of Pure Momentum
After a brief pause, the band lit the fuse again with “Ready to Start”, a song tailor-made for festival sing-alongs. The crowd erupted, jumping in time to the pounding drums and driving guitar. “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” followed, its soaring melody reminding everyone why Funeral remains a modern classic. From there, “No Cars Go” brought the kind of mass euphoria that only Arcade Fire can conjure—its martial drums and wordless chants turning the field into a single pulsing organism.
“Keep the Car Running” kept the adrenaline high, but it was the sequence that followed that truly cemented the night’s magic. “Afterlife,” introduced with a haunting snippet of My Body Is a Cage and a sly nod to New Order’s Temptation, shimmered with disco grooves and existential yearning. Régine then took center stage for “It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus)”, performing from a B-stage in the middle of the crowd. Her voice floated across the festival grounds like a beacon, bringing an intimate connection to a performance of massive scale.
Deborah Harry Joins the Party
Just when it seemed the set had reached its peak, Arcade Fire threw a curveball. Out walked Deborah Harry of Blondie, and the crowd lost its collective mind. Together they tore into a joyous cover of “Heart of Glass,” with Régine and Deborah trading lines like old friends. The disco-punk energy was electric, a perfect bridge between Blondie’s late-’70s New York cool and Arcade Fire’s modern-day art rock.
Harry stuck around for “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains),” adding her unmistakable presence to one of Arcade Fire’s most beloved songs. Régine twirled in a swirl of sequins, leading the crowd in a dance-floor anthem that somehow felt both deeply personal and infinitely communal. In that moment, the desert air shimmered with pure pop bliss.
The Home Stretch: Chaos and Communion
The band wasn’t done surprising us. “Normal Person” crashed in with crunchy guitars and sly humor, Win grinning as he asked the crowd if anyone there was truly “normal.” “Here Comes the Night Time” followed, its Caribbean rhythms and kaleidoscopic lighting transforming the festival grounds into a late-night carnival. Confetti cannons fired, the crowd danced like it was the last party on Earth, and the band reveled in the joyous chaos they’d created.
Finally, it was time for the closer everyone had been waiting for. “Wake Up” began with that unmistakable guitar riff, and a roar went up from the sea of festivalgoers. But Arcade Fire had one last trick: they invited the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to join them, and together they led the crowd in a New Orleans-style parade. Win and the band actually left the stage and walked through the audience, still singing, still playing, as thousands of voices lifted the chorus skyward. It was less a concert ending than a communal benediction, a way of saying that the music belongs to everyone.
The Full Setlist
(Weekend One – April 13, 2014)
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Reflektor
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Flashbulb Eyes
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Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
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Rebellion (Lies)
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Joan of Arc
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The Suburbs
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The Suburbs (Continued)
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Ready to Start
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Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
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No Cars Go
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Keep the Car Running
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Afterlife (with My Body Is a Cage intro and New Order’s Temptation snippet)
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It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus) (Régine on B-stage)
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Heart of Glass (Blondie cover, with Deborah Harry)
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Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) (with Deborah Harry)
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Normal Person
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Here Comes the Night Time
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Wake Up (with Preservation Hall Jazz Band, performed while walking through the crowd)
Why This Night Still Resonates
Looking back, what stands out most about Arcade Fire’s Weekend One set isn’t just the surprise guests or the confetti explosions—it’s the way the band built a true community out of a sprawling festival crowd. They’ve always blurred the line between performer and audience, but at Coachella 2014 they turned that philosophy into a living, breathing spectacle. Whether it was Régine singing from the middle of the crowd, Deborah Harry crashing the party, or the band marching into the audience during Wake Up, every move reinforced the idea that music is something we share, not something we simply consume.
For me, the night was a reminder of why I fell in love with live music in the first place. Arcade Fire didn’t just headline Coachella—they redefined what a festival finale can be. They gave us catharsis, joy, and a fleeting sense of unity in a world that often feels divided. As the final notes of Wake Up echoed into the desert night, it was impossible not to believe, at least for a little while, that music really can bring us all together.
Arcade Fire’s first weekend Coachella set wasn’t just the best performance of the festival—it was one of the defining moments of their career. For those of us lucky enough to be there, it felt like standing inside a living, breathing work of art, where every beat, every melody, and every unexpected twist added up to something unforgettable. Nearly a decade later, I can still hear the chorus of Wake Up ringing in my ears, a reminder that nights like this don’t come along very often—and when they do, you hold onto them forever.