Wolf Parade @ The TLA (aka the Fillmore)

Last night I barely made it out to see Wolf Parade at the TLA, which was my first time being there since they changed it to the “Fillmore at the TLA.” It looks pretty much the same except they added some curtains, chandeliers, and fixed up the floor.

Opening up was Montreal’s Plants and Animals. They were great as long as you didn’t listen to their lyrics or look at the singer’s mustache. The guitar player’s hair looked like muppet hair where it’s big, but lighter than it should be. As he bobbed his head around the hair seemed to fall slower than normal. You know what I’m talking about. Their sound rocked. Each song was paced and arranged in a way that felt natural, but at the same time surprising. I have no idea if their recorded material is good, but I suspect they’re better live. The one song from their Myspace site certainly was.

Wolf Parade’s first album, Apologies to the Queen Mary, was definitely my favorite record of last year. Call me retarded, but I didn’t know until last night there were two singers. I always thought their songs sounded like two bands were playing them, but the singers voices were similar enough…

Not from last night’s show, but still good:

They opened with one of my favorites, It’s a Curse. The set contained mostly new songs from their up coming album. None of them really stood out for me, but they were decent enough. Overall the sound was great and the band was really tight, despite drinking Jager straight from the bottle on stage. The two singers got into a contest to see who could unbutton their shirt the farthest, and I think it was a tie. The crowd was packed and totally into the band. I definitely know I’m getting old when I see a guy crowd surfing while holding an umbrella and all I can think is that someone’s eye is about to be gouged.

This guy was also at the show.

Wolf Parade – Modern World