Gonna Play A Show In The Month Of May: The Arcade Fire Return On 5/3

It is no overstatement to say that The Arcade Fire are one of the two biggest indie-rock bands on the planet at the moment (in a comic coincidence, the other, Radiohead, seem to accidentally be competing with them for press this week.) On Sunday, The Arcade Fire won a surprising but well-deserved Grammy for Album Of The Year just three records into their career, and closed out the telecast to a viewing audience of 26 million people. Later in the week, they were confirmed (along with Eminem) as the headliners of Bonnaroo 2011 in Tennessee. And on Friday evening, they quietly announced a handful of North American tour dates featuring three stops in Texas.

The good news for Austin? Our stop plays the smallest venue. The newish Backyard (capacity: 7,500) on Highway 620 between Bee Cave and Lakeway will host the May 3rd show, appropriately placing the group's The Suburbs tour in the actual suburbs. Austin's own Explosions In The Sky will open the show. After that, the tour drops in to The Woodlands - yes, another suburb - the next evening.

Ticket details are scarce at present - both The Backyard's official site and The Arcade Fire's website have nothing to offer just yet. This will be the first real test of The Backyard's ticketing, parking, and concessions after a shaky 2010 inaugural season - hopefully the issues from last summer's shows will help the venue staff prepare. The Backyard's tickets seem to be handled by ExtremeTix, so check that site next week for more details.