wolf parade @ the wiltern (7/31/10)

Dear Wiltern, fire your sound engineer immediately. One of my favorite bands played on your stage last night and I couldn't hear a word any of them said, spoken or sung. In fact, at times, I couldn't hear anything but Dan Boeckner's guitar. That was consistently loud and clear.

Ideally, I'd go back in time and experience an adjusted version of this show all over again. But since that's not possible, I guess I'm going to have to make an effort to look at the bright sides.

Setlist:

What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way)
Language City
Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts
Palm Road
Oh You, Old Thing
Ghost Pressure
This Heart's on Fire
I'll Believe in Anything
Fine Young Cannibals
Cloud Shadow on the Mountain
Pobody's Nerfect
California Dreamer

Encore:
You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son
Shine a Light
Kissing the Beehive


...the main bright side being, of course, that Spencer Krug was there, and no night is completely lost as long as I'm allowed to stand ten feet away from that man -- excuse me, god -- and watch his death-defying stool balancing act.

It's also lucky that Wolf Parade's songs are just, like, really good. That statement may merit another "really" or two. Even with mostly-inaudible vocals, songs from the new album like "Ghost Pressure" and "Cloud Shadow on the Mountain," along with older favorites such as "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" and "I'll Believe in Anything," rocked undeniably hard. Perhaps best of all and most appropriately, "California Dreamer" acted as the finale to the main set. And oh, it was grand.

The one irredeemably wretched moment of the evening, for me, came during the encore -- "Shine a Light" was all but unrecognizable. And that's one of my favorite songs. But what can you do?

All in all, though, it was a good night. I'll be looking forward to the next time Sunset Rubdown comes to town.

mp3: "I'll Believe in Anything" (from Apologies to the Queen Mary)
mp3: "Ghost Pressure" (from Expo 86)