Arcade Fire have announced a Ukraine benefit concert.
Win Butler and co will play the Toulouse Theatre in New Orleans on Monday night (14.03.22) to raise money for non-profit Plus 1’s Ukraine relief fund, amid the ongoing conflict in the country.
The Canadian rockers shared a poster for the show on social media, which encourages attendees to “pay what you can”.
Meanwhile, the group are gearing up to release new music after they gave fans a teaser of a new track on their website.
Some fans have also been sent postcards with the message “we missed you” and their eye logo from their social media profiles.
The group’s last studio effort was 2017’s ‘Everything Now’, though they released the 45-minute track ‘Memories Of The Age of Anxiety’ for the meditation app Headspace in April 2021.
Win previously revealed they’ve made “two or three albums” amid the coronavirus pandemic.
He said in 2020: “This time around we’ve been in lockdown, [we] have a studio, have every keyboard, drum machine, piano – everything I could want – and f****** time.
“The one piece that’s been missing [on previous albums] is the time, and now the time is there.”
The ‘Ready to Start’ star had also previously admitted that writing for the Canadian group’s first LP since ‘Everything Now’ had “intensified” in lockdown.
Win also admitted he believes the health crisis will “only strengthen music as an art form”, despite the financial impact on the industry.
In a handwritten note to fans posted on Instagram, he wrote: “We had been exploring a lot of lyrical and musical themes that feel almost eerily related to what is happening now (we actually have a song called Age of Anxiety written a year ago for Christ’s sake – haha ).
“Needless to say, the writing has intensified, and the work is flowing out… It is challenging as ever, and with just as much purpose.
“Though this crisis may ultimately change or destroy aspects of the music industry, I believe it will only strengthen music as an art form. It has never felt more essential, spiritual and irreplaceable…a church that lives in the air between the source and your ears. (sic)”