Arcade Fire begin European tour despite Win Butler’s sexual misconduct allegations

nme.com:

Arcade Fire began their 2022 UK and Ireland headline tour last night (August 30), despite recent allegations of sexual misconduct against frontman Win Butler.On Saturday (August 27), Pitchfork published an article in which four former fans of the band – who were aged between 18 and 23 at the time of the alleged interactions – accused Butler of sexual misconduct.Three of the accusers are women and the fourth identifies as gender-fluid who uses they/them pronouns.Butler responded to the accusations of “inappropriate” actions in a statement, claiming he was “very sorry to anyone who I have hurt with my behaviour” but maintaining that “these relationships were all consensual”.The musician added: “I fucked up, and while not an excuse, I will continue to look forward and heal what can be healed, and learn from past experiences.”Butler’s wife and Arcade Fire bandmate Régine Chassagne also shared her own statement, in which she said: “I know he has never, and would never, touch a woman without her consent and I am certain he never did.”After the accusations came to light, some fans called on the group to cancel their tour or offer refunds to those who no longer wanted to attend.

However, the first show in Dublin went ahead as planned yesterday evening.Sharing a thread of tweets throughout the concert, one attendee said that Arcade Fire came out onstage to “rapturous applause” from the audience before opening with ‘Wake Up’.Later, it was claimed by multiple audience members that it appeared to be “business as usual” for the band.

Another Twitter user said “the mood was tense” inside the venue. You can see a selection of posts below.Arcade Fire open the first gig of their world tour in Dublin with Wake Up, which is some PR move –.