Skip to content
Premieres

Arcade Fire Rock With Cyndi Lauper at Jazz Fest

110509-arcade-fire-lauper.png

Arcade Fire are playing just about every single festival in the U.S. this summer — including Bonnaroo in June — but the Canadian collective delivered one of their most memorable performances of the year at New Orleans’ Jazz Fest this past weekend. The group brought out Cyndi Lauper for a joyous rendition of her classic “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” The ’80s pop star also stuck around to guest on Arcade Fire’s “Sprawl II.” Check out both performances here.

Frontman Win Butler introduced Lauper by saying she is one of the band’s “all-time favorite artists,” which seemed to draw a mixed reaction from the audience. But any doubts were quashed once Arcade Fire launched into the funked-up riff from “Girls,” which gets added swagger thanks to a hot brass section. “Sprawl II” was equally thrilling, with Lauper adding haunting back-up vocals to singer Régine Chassagne’s urgent lead vocals. Best part: watching Chassagne and Lauper having a mini dance-off around the 3:10 mark.