After three months of scanning craigslist like a fiend, I was actually able to score tickets to see Wolf Parade. I noticed an ad for someone who wanted to trade her tickets for Saturday night's show for any other night, so I emailed her and said if she had no luck that I would buy her tickets at a mark-up.
Then I forgot about it.
Then on Friday, she emailed me and asked if I still wanted the tickets. Hells ya! It was a bit short notice to find a friend who wanted to come with, so I asked SB and he said cool. Even though he doesn't listen to them much, he's heard them on my truck CD. Although on the way there he kept screaming "Wolf Lover - WHOOO" to which I had to explain that we were on our way to see Wolf Parade, not Wolf Mother, and Wolf Lover is, as far as I know, not something that exists.
The show was pretty amazing. The first opening group was a duet of a guy and a girl playing 70s and 80s rock covers. Whatever, they were okay. Then there was a group called Holy Fuck, and I guess you would describe them as instrumental - they had a drummer, a bassist, a keyboardist, and a guy who played what SB and I call "The Table". It appeared to consist of many many gadgets and plugs and knobs for twisting, and it made all kind of noises. It all looked very complicated, and they kept having "technical difficulties". They were actually very good, SB was very into them, which surprised me.
Wolf Parade blew my mind, as I knew they would. Not only were they amazing, but the crowd had fabulous energy. I have generally been known to avoid any shows that do not involve seat assignment, and that was probably the only thing that bothered me about this show. We stood in our spot for 3 hours, waiting patiently, and forming polite boundaries with the other people around us, then five minutes before WP came on, 4 loud, annoying, stoned guys pushed through and squished themselves in front of us. Everyone was annoyed and pissed off, but made the best of it. SB was not pleased, and I think that ruined the whole show for him.
They played lots of old stuff, and lots of new stuff, which sounded pretty great. It was at La Sala Rossa, which holds about 225 people, and has a small stage. I wish that the room had some risers or something - just gradual "stairs" - because then the space might be almost perfect. Or if the stage was higher. But I don't think the room is tall enough to lift the stage.
Anyway, during the set they played Shine a Light, You are The Runner and I am My Father's Son, Fancy Claps, and a few others from the first album. Fancy Claps was probably my favorite. Then the encore was This Heart's on Fire, which I can give or take, but then I'll Believe in Anything to close things out. This one BLEW MY MIND!!! It sounded amazing, the crowd was amazing, I just do not have the words this early Sunday morning to describe how spectacular it was.
On a side note, I totally didn't realize, but I took my first writing class with the keyboardist from Wolf Parade. I love their music, but I'm not the type to look up everything I can about the band. But when I saw him, I recognized him right away. So weird. I remember his writing was really great, but a bit too poetic for my prose tastes. Music seems to suit him much better!
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