I’m sure you could’ve gleaned from my previous post about the Arcade Fire show that I’m just slightly obsessed. So of course, when the tickets went on sale 10 days before the show I made sure to wake my ass up bright and early half an hour before they were posted just to stare at my computer screen with my cursor hovering over the “Add to Cart” button. And, my god, was I glad I did: they were gone within minutes. I felt like I’d received a Golden Ticket.

As with their last few concerts as The Reflektors, they requested that all of us wear either formal attire or costumes. I arrived at the venue to see fans in cow suits and cat masks and a team of face painters ready to prep us for the party. The entrance was decked out, complete with a red carpet and the works.

The night was an affair to remember from the moment the band arrived in their glamorous giant head gear, followed by their own personal mariachi band (because of course they were). The crowd was relatively small in size but buzzing with energy and enthusiasm. There was a palpable electricity in the room in anticipation of the concert to come. While waiting, we were happily occupied by a man in a skeleton suit teaching us some dance moves. You know, pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. After a few false alarms triggered by Caribbean drum beats, we finally heard the beginning of My Body is a Cage and began to cheer, having no clue where all of the band members could be hiding. The music cut and suddenly Arcade Fire entered with the title track from their new album, Reflektor. In line with the dance-y direction that the new album has taken, the performance was truly a huge rock n’ roll party—with crowdsurfing, yanked guitar strings, audience choreography, borrowed-beer head baths, and shit tons of confetti pouring out of disco balls. And at the end just to top it all off, the band decided to go out triumphantly with Wake Up.

You could tell that all of the band members were really relishing these final opportunities to connect with their fans on such an intimate level. So after playing their encore, they made sure to ease our sadness at the show being over by extending the party a bit longer with a DJ set spun by Win Butler himself. Then the night came to a close with Win waltzing through the pulsing crowd, dancing with us as he went along, and greeting all who realized his presence. Of course I could go on to list some qualms that I had that night—the sound could have been better, they could have played older songs from previous albums, they could have played a longer set—but, really, what could be better than seeing one of your favorite bands in a setting that will soon be impossible to replicate given their newfound fame. Suffice it to say my year was made.