David Byrne Joins Arcade Fire In New York City

David Byrne accompanied Arcade Fire on a cover of John Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance” at Monday’s concert in New York City. The show was the fourth and final “surprise” Arcade Fire performance at the Bowery Ballroom, with proceeds from the pay-what-you-can event benefiting the PLUS 1 Ukraine Relief Fund.

Byrne, whose long-running Broadway production American Utopia will hold its final performance on April 3, emerged for the final song of Monday’s encore. Before his sit-in, Arcade Fire began the encore with their singalong “Wake Up.” They followed the track off 2004’s Funeral with the live debut of “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid),” a track that appears on the upcoming new Arcade Fire studio album, WE that is set for release on May 6.

The preceding main set presented an additional four WE songs, including the show opening offering of the lead single, “The Lightning I, II,” with “Age Of Anxiety I” and “Age Of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)” coming later in the set. Arcade Fire, whose co-founding member Will Butler recently confirmed his departure from the band, also offered the 2020 standalone single, “Generation A,” alongside other favorites off Funeral, 2010’s The Suburbs, 2013’s Reflektor and their latest album, 2017’s Everything Now.

“Give Peace A Chance” was written by John Lennon and originally released in 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band. With Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler performing from within the crowd, watch David Byrne join the band on “Give Peace A Chance” at the Bowery Ballroom via the link below: