BIG ANNOUNCE DAY: Arcade Fire, Nick Cave coming in 2014

FArcade Fire GigCity Edmontonirst Sabbath and now this: Arcade Fire is coming to town. Nick Cave, too. It’s a big day for big announces in Edmonton.

Arcade Fire, the Montreal orchspectacular band that music critics first fell all over themselves to love and then later seemed to have second thoughts about will perform at Rexall Place on Monday, Aug. 11, the day after the folk fest ends. Tickets start at $30 and go on sale Friday, Nov. 22 at Ticketmaster.

From Cinderella honeymoon story success with its expansive brand of unconventional art-folk-pop or whatever you want to call it, winning the coveted Polaris Prize in 2011, the band is touring behind its fourth album, Reflektor, which the august and respected Washington Post newspaper slammed: “Arcade Fire still sound like gigantic dorks with boring sex lives.”

Don’t listen to those critics! The guy probably didn’t like them from the beginning and only now admits it.

Next, Nick Cave is getting a jolly good buzz from local punk rock enthusiasts. This isn’t so much a concert announcement as it is a promise of a concert announcement – with the legendary Australian artist due to hit both Edmonton and Calgary on another leg of the tour in support of the latest studio album, Push the Sky Away, according to the music blog Brooklyn Vegan. No word on date or venue. Spring? Rexall Place? Jubilee Auditorium? Your guess is as good as any. Details to come as the new year’s concert schedule starts to fill in – and quickly.