Brooklyn trio We Are Augustines' debut album sounds like it's been pieced together with spare parts from various other big indie-rock bands.

The male-dominated crowd chanted "Take it off! Take it off!" at the young, beautiful and talented woman on stage. They weren't seedily encouraging Amy LaVere, US singer/songwriter, double-bassist and budding Hollywood actress, to do anything untoward. They were merely asking her to come out from behind a glittering silver mask, which had hidden her face for the last hour.

Arcade Fire’s live shows always seem to present a sort of organised chaos that you either love or hate, but judging by this sold-out Hyde Park gig – their largest UK show to date – they don’t have to worry too much about the latter.

On recent tours, Win Butler has wondered how his band can fill arenas despite having no hits. On this evidence, while they may not dominate the charts in the manner of Adele or Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire brim over with hummable tunes.

Sir Paul McCartney stunned the crowd at the Coachella music festival by joining Afrojack on stage.

There are moments on Degeneration Street that suggest Dears' creative mainspring Murray Lightburn is hoping to effect an Arcade Fire-style vault from indie saltmines to popularity; but it's all too little, and at five albums into their career, too late for that.

Arcade Fire were overwhelmed by their shock 'Best Album' Grammy win.

Canadian rockers Arcade Fire and American singer Cee Lo Green will perform at next month's Brit Awards.

It starts so well. For the first few minutes of their third album, My Little Cheap Dictaphone – a Belgian band led by Redboy – mine the same rich seam of vintage sounds as the Real Tuesday Weld and the Shortwave Set, creating a haunted junkshop feel.

I have seen Arcade Fire in a small church and in a packed Hackney Empire. Now they are bounding onstage at the O2 Arena as if born to the role. Their ascent has been rapid and has been all the more surprising given the peculiarity of their music, a bewildering panoply of strings and things. Significantly, they do not seem out of place here. As an octet, they are not dwarfed by a stage this size. The same applies to their sound.