Try to pretend like we’re professionals.” A night filled with jokes and the occasional toasts towards the audience by co-leader Spencer Krug (alongside Dan Boeckner), Wolf Parade delivered an incredibly seasoned performance for their Oakland debut at the Fox Theater last Friday.
As the venue filled with talk of the many side projects associated with the headlining act prior to the show, all it took for the audience to regain a sense of familiarity after Zola Jesus’s peculiar set was for lead vocalist Yasuaki Sakai of Japanese jam band Moools to reveal a Wolf Parade shirt after removing his plain white tee in the earlier part of their set. After Moools’ set ended, the preparation for Wolf Parade to take the stage triggered a second wave of hysterics at the sheer sight of Krug’s two-tiered keyboard.
Promoting their latest album, Expo 86, the Montreal-based quartet was met with a packed house. In most cases, it’s reasonable to expect a band to sound less polished in a live performance as opposed to an album recording. However, Wolf Parade’s experience with recording their albums live with very few overdubs allowed their 15-song set to embody all the technical expertise of their albums but managed to satiate the crowd’s thirst for an atmosphere flooded with solid, indie-rock.
The set list featured a balance between old and new songs written by either Krug or Boeckner and the co-leaders humbly shared the spotlight in a manner that was both confident and void of excess ego.
With Krug’s keyboards paired with Boeckner’s high-strung guitar work, nuanced vocals were melded with perfectly harmonized yelps and falsettos. Drummer Arlen Thompson delivered impressively frantic percussive elements while Dante DeCaro’s bass thundered along without overpowering the others, giving the entire performance a strong backbone.
The crowd was most receptive to songs from the group’s 2005 debut Apologies to the Queen Mary, an album whose content prompted the most joyous sing-along moments of the night. Expo 86 tracks “Palm Road” and “Little Golden Age” were played as well as pre-album singles “Ghost Pressure,” and “What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way).”
Merely the first note of the band’s 2005 single “I’ll Believe In Anything” sent the crowd into mass hysteria as they sang the evocatively enchanting line, “Give me / Your eyes / I need / The sunshine,” alongside Krug’s hauntingly charming vocals. “Language City” and “Fine Young Cannibals” from the group’s 2008 sophomore effort, At Mount Zoomer were performed before the set was closed with “California Dreamer.” The band then came back on stage for an encore consisting of Boeckner’s “Shine A Light” and the brooding 11-minute ballad “Kissing The Beehive.”
At times, choruses were played at a faster pace, but Krug’s nonchalant enthusiasm made this “rushed” feeling seem more fluid. Even when their playing was the slightest bit sloppy, it felt intentionally haphazard in the way the band fed off each other’s spontaneity. Though far away from their home base of Montreal, the epicenter of so many indie “it” bands, Wolf Parade somehow transformed the massive Fox Theater into the most intimate of settings. Even with the absence of synth-playing Hadji Bakara from the band’s new album and current tour, they truly held their own.
The maturity displayed onstage was compelling, but much expected due to each member’s experience with many side projects. But associated acts aside, the group’s performance was electrifying, and by the end of the night, Wolf Parade was the only band that could be talked about as stampedes poured out of the venue.