Almost a year to the day after the group Arcade Fire ended its Montreal tour in turmoil amid allegations of sexual misconduct against its singer Win Butler, the group hasn’t slowed down. The musicians have announced their appearance at a number of festivals in South America and the USA next year.
So everything seems to be business as usual for Arcade Fire. Next March, the group will take part in three Lollapalooza festivals in South America (Chile, Argentina, Brazil). In May it will be Shaky Knees’ turn to welcome the group in Atlanta, and in July the musicians will play at Bilbao BBK Live in Spain.
This year Arcade Fire performed in Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States. The scandal of August 2022 seems to have already been forgotten.
This month, the American website Pitchfork dropped a small bombshell by publishing a shocking report about several sexual misconducts committed by Win Butler. The events with which he is accused occurred several years earlier in Montreal. Butler directly addressed each allegation in the report. Then there was radio silence.
Elephant in the room
Arcade Fire began its world tour three days after the article was published. Aside from several online protests and empty stands in some European cities as well as Toronto and Montreal, the group had no qualms about entertaining crowds. Furthermore, the musicians never addressed the elephant in the room during their performances.
“It’s a tragic situation,” said Pop Montreal promoter Dan Seligman, who has worked with Arcade Fire in the past. They were this heroic group that everyone loved and that stood up for important political things. “It’s just another rock band doing stuff just for the money.”
The organizer recalls that the fact that no charges have been brought against Win Butler explains why he can continue his activities. “At this point it’s more public opinion. […] It’s an important story for us in Montreal because this is where the group comes from. But elsewhere on the planet I don’t think it’s a very serious situation.”
Immoral, but not illegal
Radio host Mike Gauthier recalls that at the Juno Awards last February, it was decided to keep Arcade Fire nominated for Group of the Year. “The famous sentence: ‘It’s immoral, but not illegal’, that’s a bit like that now,” he says.
Given that Arcade Fire played Osheaga in the summer of 2022 and the Bell Center a few months later, the band probably wouldn’t have planned to perform in Quebec again so quickly, scandal or not. But can we imagine seeing her on a stage here again in the medium term?
“In Quebec it will be more difficult to book them and put them at a festival,” says Mike Gauthier […] But when there is money to be made in this business, morale begins to waver a little. There are many rappers who are accused of everything and behave inappropriately. But the rooms are full. What do you want from the promoters?