Wolf Parade

I went to see Wolf Parade at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, yesterday, August 25th, 2006. It was altogether a pretty slick show, and I was not let down by a lot of the Wolf Parade hype that I had heard prior to the show. Whalebone and Frog Eyes opened, and I was mildly impressed by them as well.

Whalebone came on around 9 o'clock and gave their interpretation of a cross between Eagles of Death Metal and Howe Gelb. They had a nice three part harmony going for their first song that sent shivers down your spine. I really liked the lead guitarists style and the way he held together the vocals while still keeping up musically.

Next up was Frog Eyes. While I had heard of them before, I never really got the chance to hear their version of Indie Rock. The lead singer, Carey Mercer, wailed and mumbled his way through half a dozen pieces that left me dazed and confused. I tried to imagine it as a more whacked out version of Wolf Parade. After his long and meandering set we were finally ready for Wolf Parade.

Although, they had a pretty slick show. They played a lot of their hits from their CD Apologies to the Queen Mary, but they also wiggled in a couple tracks not on the CD, particularly Secret Knives and Dinner Bells (one of my favorites and their finale piece). They engaged the crowd a fair amount, and the fans were pretty decent, except for one fellow who jumped up on stage and proceeded to play air guitar until keyboardist Spencer Krug gave him a distasteful glare at which point he quickly jumped off the stage. I had a good time, and I hope you did too! Talk to you soon.