Wolf Parade @Warsaw, Aug. 19th

Earlier this summer, Julie1 had mentioned her interest in catching Wolf Parade, and when tickets re-appeared on Ticketbastard on Friday, I thought sure, why not? Um, $11.05 in service fees for a $20.00 ticket, that's why not!

Anyway, I figured at least I'll only drop $5.00 on dinner. Can't really beat the Warsaw Special with those yummy pickles and help yourself condiments including applesauce and sour cream! It certainly made my last visit to Warsaw for Wilco awesome.

We positioned ourselves decently close and center just before Wolf Parade was to hit the stage. Everything pretty much went downhill from there. For someone who had little expectations about this show going in, I walked away surprisingly disappointed. Didn't even stay for the encore.

While on their album, Apologies to the Queen Mary, they may have shown promise, their live performance suffered from a lack of cohesiveness. Perhaps it was the new material that slowed them down. Or their audio setup difficulties. I found myself searching the whole time for any little moment to latch onto, and really nothing grabbed me.

As Wolf Parade traded off between their two lead singers, it resulted in a disjointed feeling, as though they were attempting multiple types of sounds. Like we were at a high school battle of the bands, and they were on stage going, okay, okay, what can we play next....okay, let's do this one! and then they'd play a song, and go, okay, it's your turn! It felt very slapped together and thoughtless.

The band also had very little stage presence and connection with the audience. Julie1 thought for a fledgling band with only one full (albeit good) album, they didn't do a very good job of playing to the crowd. The only consistency I observed was the identical Yeahhh! this annoying woman would yell behind me at the conclusion of every song. The only glimpse of their greatness as a live band I got was when they played "I'll Believe in Anything" which got the crowd going, but then the following song killed any momentum they might have had.

Oh well. I was not very impressed at all.

Dan Boeckner, doing his best Steve Buscemi imitation

Wilco @Warsaw, June 26th

"Curfews are for suckers," Jeff Tweedy said with glee, once he addressed the crowd well into the set. Wilco impressed me last night at Hammerstein, but tonight for my inaugural visit to Warsaw in Brooklyn, NY (and yes, I had some pierogies and kielbasa), they made it extra special, playing a solid two hour and fifteen minute set chock full o' oldies, opening and closing with songs from Being There ("Sunken Treasure" and "Outta Mind (Outta Sight)"). They also played "Why Would You Wanna Live" from the same album, and "Hoodoo Voodoo" from Mermaid Avenue!

For those keeping score at home, they started at 9:22 and stopped at 11:37. They played 12 songs in this set that were not heard on Monday at Hammerstein. Over the two nights, they played all of their latest album, Sky Blue Sky, except for one track (no "What Light"), and almost all of their beloved Yankee Foxtrot Hotel, and a majority of their previous A Ghost is Born.

The crowd for Warsaw seemed to possess more energy and enthusiasm than the audience for Hammerstein, despite being only a fourth in size. Whether you were quick enough to get your ticket through the Wilco presale (as I did), or by waiting for hours in line at the box office, or by paying a scalper loads of money, you were there probably because you really, really wanted to be, and it showed. We were sweating like dogs but nobody cared.

Julie1 and I even got to witness a classic Wawa spazz out moment during "Pot Kettle Black." Holy Christ, this show was good.

Here are some pics on my Flickr.