The new group will play a one-off concert this month, but the event won’t just include famous musicians. Here’s who else will be joining them.
According to Consequence of Sound, we’re about to get a mash up of some of the biggest acts in the past decade.
Arcade Fire brothers Win And Will Butler formed the new temporary group with Justin Vernon from Bon Iver and Nikolai Fraiture from The Strokes. They’re conducting this mini musical experiment on September 20, 2014 at the McGill University Sports Centre in Montreal, Canada.
If that sounds too passe, and you think, “Big deal, we’ve seen supergroups like this before,” well, you probably haven’t seen them try to make a couple of last-ditch free throw shots in the bottom of the fourth quarter.
That’s right. These indie rock kids will be playing basketball. No, not the Lil Bow Wow song. We’re talking the kind with sneakers, loose-fitting jerseys and the sweet smell of sweat mixed with Gatorade.
The basketball event, accurately called Pop Vs. Jock, is for charity. It features musicians pitted against real basketball players in a match-up on the court. If you imagine that sounds a little lopsided, the event already thought this one through. A few current and retired NBA players will join the musicians on Team Pop. They will play against Team Jock, a collection of college basketball players.
The halftime show will be unusual in that the band is also on the basketball team. No one has yet confirmed whether Team Pop will have time to change out of their sweat-soaked clothes before hitting the stage, or whether their performance will even take place at “halftime.” It’s one of the few times a band has had to play both roles, so audience members will see for themselves soon enough.
The Pop Allstar Band isn’t the only musical entertainment of the night. DJs A-Trak and Kid Koala will lay down a few jams for the audience and players throughout Pop Vs. Jock. The party doesn’t stop after the winning team scores its last points either. Win Butler will try his hand at the turntable alongside James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem during the after party.
Arcade Fire members recently performed with other notable musicians Marky Ramone, David Byrne and Buster Poindexter this summer.
Bon Iver released a new song this summer for the film Wish I Was Here, which was the first song Justin Vernon has announced in three years. He’s been busy with his new band Jason Feathers this year.
The event tickets are separate from the after party tickets, so fans who want to get it on a little last-minute charity need to purchase both if they want to check out all of the musical acts at this year’s Pop Vs. Jock.