Expos Funeral
Season 3. Episode 1: Expos Funeral. And here’s the story we wanted to figure out for history: In the Fall of 2004, following a decade of fits and starts, Major League Baseball finally announced that the Expos would be leaving Montreal for Washington D.C. Just weeks later, a band of indie rockers from Montreal, calling themselves Arcade Fire, would arrive in New York and begin to take America by storm. Did Arcade Fire right a wrong? Were they manifested by Andre Dawson and Gary Carter?
In the season three premier, Matty & Kevin test out a theory that they surely imagined but are also 100% convinced are real. The co-hosts believe that, in 2004, when the Montreal Expos left for Washington DC, the void that was left was replaced by Arcade Fire. In the post-9/11 era of “Freedom Fries,” Major League Baseball could not tolerate a colorful, European team from Canada. Their logical destination — the nation’s capitol. The crater that the left behind, however, was filled with Indie Rock. First, The Unicorns. Eventually, Wolf Parade. But within weeks of The Expos last game, it was the beloved, and iconoclastic Arcade Fire.
On this episode, Matty & Kevin wonder if this rebalancing of the universe was metaphysical or whether it was a North American trade agreement. Then, with the help of DJ Steve Porter, known for his sports / music mash-ups, they get perspective from a musician who was straddling both worlds in 2004. Amazingly, Steve confirms that the trade was very real and widely understood in Montreal. What the city lost in sports, they gained in the most important band on Earth.
Together, the trio then confirms that the Expo most likely to be invited into Arcade Fire was Andre Dawson (on drums) and that the band’s eventual debut in New York in the Fall of 2004 was very much an act of revolution.
Finally, Matty and Kevin fast forward to 2016, when Win Butler led the Canadian celebrity All-Stars to a convincing victory against American funny-hipster, Jason Sudekis, and the American team. The Expos were gone. The Nationals were winning. But, for Montreal, justice had finally prevailed.