Arcade Fire Involved in London Scuffle?
A.F. ain't nuthin t'fuck wit

Last night in London, at the end of their set at Porchester Hall, the Arcade Fire did what has become a tradition at their performances: they performed a brief acoustic set in the foyer of the venue. These sets are just one of the many reasons why this band is so loveable, offering fans who were stuck in the back for the entire main performance an opportunity to see the group up close and personal for a few songs.

But apparently, the Arcade Fire are not beloved by everybody. According to a reporter for the NME, as the band made their way to the back of Porchester Hall for the encore, they encountered a bit of trouble with a security guard.

"One of guards was literally manhandling Win, who was pretty pissed off and shouted 'Don't fucking touch me' before shrugging off the attention and defiantly placing his mic stand at the bottom of the foyer stairs," the reporter said.

"The rest of the band-- French horns, double bass and all-- then emerged from the startled crowd, most of whom hadn't realised exactly what was going on, to play a spine-tingling extended acoustic version of 'Wake Up'. After about a minute, Win disappeared to the back of the throng, leaving the lead vocals to be sung en masse by the audience! Butler then led the band back into the hall to play a brief rendition of the Clash song 'The Guns of Brixton'."

However, a Pitchfork reporter who also attended the performance, tells us that from his vantage point, things were a bit less dramatic than the NME may be letting on:

"It was kind of chaotic after they played their first encore. You could see the band head off through a side door with their instruments, and I guess enough people had read accounts of them playing post-show acoustic sets on steps of the St. John's earlier in the week to expect they might be planning something similar.

"The Porchester Hall isn't really a rock venue-- it's a rather ornate classical music venue, and isn't really designed for a huge surge of people all trying to leave at once. I'd been at the front near the stage during the show, and by the time I headed towards the foyer to see what was going on, there was a big scrum of people all trying to get down the steps at the same time.

"People were pushing through the door, trying to get out onto the balcony, even sarcastically shouting 'FIRE!' to get people moving. I didn't see any of the alleged trouble between Win and the guard, but I can't believe it was a big deal because nothing filtered back to my part of the crowd, and the band eventually came back into the hall and played a version of 'Guns of Brixton'. There was a good-humoured atmosphere-- certainly nothing rancorous as far as I could see."

NME posted amateur video of the event on YouTube, which can be seen below. Although "Wake Up" is indeed "spine-tingling", nothing much appears to happen before it.