Wolf Parade – Live @ Vogue Theater

Concert Reviews • Monday November 17th, 2008 • 10:43 pm

The theme for the show was motion and keyboards and Indianapolis felt urban, for one night at least. Wolf Parade and Listening Party, from Montreal and Vancouver respectively, both have a forward thinking sound and big city presence often absent from live music in Indiana. Both bands and crowd were jovial like a good beer buzz and kinetic like the $10 Wal-Mart box fan that churned onstage through both sets.

Newcomers Listening Party have a tribal beat and psychedelic guitar wallop like a more focused Animal Collective. Hippie dancing: commence! First thing you notice about the 3 piece is drummer/lead singer Lindy. He stands (no sitting at all) center stage with an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink percussion setup, including an upturned trashcan and 3 gallon bucket. It’s odd at first glance, but he makes the unique setup look natural as granola.

Listening Party’s debut LP doesn’t capture the best of their psych-folk/afro-beat imagination. In person Listening Party are a blur of fuzzed out sound and action, sampling and looping their instruments or otherwise futzing with technology, happily baiting the crowd, and playing guitars that sound like cyborg bagpipes.

Wolf Parade were as tight and focused as could be expected of an indie band of their stature, but the band genuinely seemed energized by the crowd. At first they were a little cold, playing five new tracks (and “Soldier’s Grin” from At Mount Zoomer) and mumbling unintelligible banter. Slowly the crowd seemed to give tacit approval for Wolf Parade to just rock those keyboards. And rock they did, forgoing the intellectual subtlety of their recorded material in favor of a louder crowd pleasing style.

They rocked, but they were still Wolf Parade. Poppy ’80s keyboards give way to the restrained fury of post-punk revival guitars. Even at their most aggressive they demurred, choosing to artfully add bricks to their wall of sound. As the set got longer so did the cacophonous end of song jams. Keyboards carried “Fine Young Cannibals” while every instrument got its turn on an extended “This Heart’s on Fire.” Songs were selected evenly from both albums and new material, and damn it if they didn’t play extra songs not on the setlist (16 in all) to thank the attentive crowd.

Tagged as: Indianapolis, Seattle, Wold Parade