Concert Review: Wolf Parade with Listening Party
A Synopsis of the Canadian Indie Rock Bands' Performances
Nov 18, 2008
When Listening Party and Wolf Parade ended their tour at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, New Jersey last Friday, the show combined enthusiasm with sadness. The tour marked the end for Hadji Bakara, Wolf Parade's effects keyboardist, who left the band to pursue higher education. It was also the last show Wolf Parade played with Listening Party before the former band embarked on a world tour.
The show had a great energy throughout—the crowd was eager and responsive to both bands—and the Canadian indie rockers gave the crowd the exact show they wanted. The Wellmont Theater itself had a few problems ranging from poor audio levels to a portion of the ceiling breaking, but the show remained unmarred. For only twenty dollars, seeing these two bands live was an energetic, excellent listening experience should not be missed.
Listening Party Gives Wellmont Theater Interesting Opening Act
As a general rule of thumb, opening acts are rarely as good as the headliner. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, and Listening Party was one of these. The band—from Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia—sounds like an eclectic combination of the electronic drum kits and vocalizations of bands like Animal Collective and the incredible freak folk harmonies by bands like O'Death.
Despite the yelping and screaming of drummer/lead vocalist Lindy, guitarist Trenton and bassist Jon managed to keep in great tune while singing harmonies to the melodic chants which filled each song.
The band's instrumentation was as interesting as their musical style. Lindy played on a drumset made entirely out of garbage cans while tapping and beatboxing into a homemade looping device, and their minimalist guitar/bass style greatly accented the vocals.
Listening Party's sound was overall solid, and giving the percussion the melody worked well for them, but hopefully they will give Trenton and Jon more work to do in the future, as Lindy was by far the busiest—manning the drumset, the looper, and lead vocals.
Wolf Parade Play A Fast-Paced, At Mount Zoomer-Heavy Live Set
The performance given by Wolf Parade was just as fun to experience. Lead vocalists Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner played a relatively equal amount of each performer's material (Wolf Parade's songwriting is split between the two), and they played a large selection from their newest album, At Mount Zoomer.
This was surprising, as songs from their debut Apologies to the Queen Mary seemed to be more popular, but the crowd quickly learned to appreciate the newer songs. When played live, At Mount Zoomer is almost an entirely different album. There was little improvisation or altercation of the songs, but the dedication and speed which the band put into their new material put most of it above their older songs in terms of energy.
While At Mount Zoomer turned out to be an incredible live listening experience, not much changed about Wolf Parade's style. They upped the tempo a bit and played with more enthusiasm, but at the core it was the same, which was to be expected. The only real trouble Wolf Parade had with their set came from the venue.
Boeckner's vocals were often hard to hear, as were Krug's keyboards, so the levels could have been improved. Also notable; a piece of the ceiling fell off between songs and landed on Krug, to the band's chagrin/amusement. Regardless of these minor mishaps, Wolf Parade is a live must-see.
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