With their upcoming album launch for the highly anticipated Everything Now to be streamed worldwide via Apple Music, Team Arcade Fire put forth a dress code for their audience. An initial statement asked guests to refrain from donning “shorts, large logos, flip flops, tank tops, crop tops, baseball hats,” and even “solid white or red clothing.” Audience members were told to dress “HIP & TRENDY as if you are going to a concert or night out with friends”. While dressing as if you are going to a concert shouldn’t be too hard when you’re literally going to a concert, there were still high stakes for audience members who somehow didn’t meet the dress code, as this was followed by the warning: “We reserve the right to deny entry to anyone dressed inappropriately.” Attendees were also told that their cellphones would be confiscated upon entry, but would be “secured in Yondr pouches that will be unlocked at the end of the show.”
This initial rule book was soon amended when, in response to backlash, the Arcade Fire twitter page tweeted out a set of rules, or more strict suggestions amended from the original rules, that came from the social media manager for what appears to be the band’s new merch company Everything Now Co. The manager, Tannis Wright, seems to have been the one behind the dress code in the first place, not Arcade Fire themselves. Wright prefaced the amended list of “rules” by saying: “I was trying to class up the show a little bit, because it’s going to be seen by literally billions of people, due to the involvement of our partners at Apple. Sue me for wanting something nice.” The statement was apparently “faxed in” from Wright himself, no news on whether he intended for it to end up on the band’s twitter page.

Statement faxed in from Tannis Wright, social media strategist for @EverythingNowCo re: Brooklyn "rules." pic.twitter.com/pqgrT3JBwj

— Arcade Fire (@arcadefire) July 24, 2017

Wright’s memo was followed up with another tweet:

Band announces, "Wear whatever you want to any show." This has been an actual band announcement ? https://t.co/2jtHzHojJD

— Arcade Fire (@arcadefire) July 24, 2017

The tweets continued as the band tried to make light of the whole thing:

If dress code is "hip and trendy", band members will not be allowed through the door...hip and trendy people will have to play the music ?

— Arcade Fire (@arcadefire) July 24, 2017

This isn’t too much of a surprise for anyone who attended Arcade Fire’s 2013 tour, where attendees were told “please wear formal attire or costume” before the band backtracked and called the extravagant dress code “super not mandatory.” Hopefully there won’t be too high a fashion standard in place when the band comes back to Ireland next year, but if there is, best start planning your outfits now.