ARCADE Fire aren’t the first, and they won’t be the last, to politely demand you dress to impress for their gigs. Printed on their gig tickets in bold is the three line whip “Formal attire or costume mandatory”, and if their recent gig in Glasgow’s Barrowlands is anything to go by, both them and their fans are really taking it seriously.
In yet another string to their bow in the massive Reflektor PR campaign, the band- billed as The Reflektors – have embraced a new music trend where artists adapt a dress code and demand that you follow-suit (no pun intended).
And it wasn’t just the humans that donned silver and glitz for the Canadian band; especially for the occasion, the venue was decked out in silver streamers and a red carpet that would put the Scissor Sisters to shame. The Reflektors, though, are taking the music seriously with lead Win Butler saying of the demand that he is ‘not sorry’ for asking fans to dress up.
It comes in a recent trend of dress-coded gigs that has seen the likes of Lady Gaga demand ‘acceptable’ attire at her iTunes show- acceptable for Gaga being sea creatures such as seahorses inspiring the clothes. Azealia Banks threw a Mermaids Ball at London Aquarium, while Laura Marling demanded black vintage pieces for one of her gigs in an old school converted into a mysterious hotel.
And as black ties and mascaraed masks flew off the shelves in preparation for last weekends gigs in the Barrowlands, the sea of Arcade Fire fans in the Trongate was disco-meets-rock-n-roll-gold; which can only be a good thing.
Words: Nadine Walker
