Indie Schmarm · Live: Wolf Parade @ The Fonda 7/19/08

It was nice to see a good show at the Fonda again. It has been a long while it seems since the Fonda was in full swing. Most shows these days seem to be at Echoplex or The Wiltern. It was nice sitting up in the balcony, clearing out the seats around me due to rocking out so hard. This was the second time I’ve seen Wolf Parade, and it was the better of the two for sure. The mix was pretty much perfect and it was loud and very solid sounding as a whole. I was able to catch up with Spencer back stage after the show and he mentioned to me that it was good I wasn’t there the previous night, though I’m sure it was still a great.

They appropriately opened up with “You Are A Runner”, followed directly with the first track off At Mount Zoomer, “Soldiers Grin”. From there they played a good mix of songs, mainly newer ones, which is expected this being the tour following At Mount Zoomer. It’s always nice to see bands change a few little things in their songs now and then, and a few times Wolf Parade threw in some different treats along the way. It came subtle at times like during the song “An Animal In Your Care”, for the outro, the drummer changed his drum beat slightly than is on the record. For “Bang Your Drum” they kept it more slow all the way through without much of a build up. They added little treats here and there throughout the set, but the whole time kept in bounds with how the songs sound on record.

Their encore consisted of a few gems, but the most memorable was my favorite Wolf Parade song, “I’ll Believe In Anything”. I can’t remember the last time I was so into a show I had a sore throat after. It was my favorite show of the year thus far and I can’t wait to see them again.

The set list as written by them:

Fathers Son
Soldiers
Billy J.
NEV
Gods
Language
Ch. W
Shine
New / Grounds
FYC - Fancy Claps
Stevie
This Heart
Crazy Train
–EC—
Curse
Believe
NE