It was a good show, but not a great show. The band seemed, a) drunk (they said as much), and b) very conscious of the fact that they were supposed to be the next thing (they acted as such). They didn’t play Grounds For Divorce which is arguably the best song on the record, so some folks could have a been a little disappointed. If I may editorialize for a second, now it’s one thing to be Paul McCartney and say, I don’t want to play Yesterday for the 9 millionth time, but when you are Wolf Parade you haven’t earned it, it’s New York, it’s the Bowery, give the people their 14 bucks worth. Also, I don’t understand how you can get sick of playing a single song when you basically play your whole record every night, it’s not like one song in your set can get overplayed. As I listen to the record again, I actually think the songs lost a bit of energy live, I don’t know, maybe it was because of the booze, but they certainly ain’t no Arcade Fire on stage. And what was with the kooky wind chimes being bashed all night, last time I checked wind chimes are not actually an instrument. Anyway, maybe they will be a little less uptight for the Williamsburg crowd tonight. Gary forgot his camera, so you will have to check Flickr for the pix (Courtesy of Central Village).
PS Oh yeah, Think About Life, the second opening band, perhaps the worst act I have ever seen at the Bowery, (like watching a train wreck kind of bad).
PPS For the record, I liked the Wolf Parade show, I’m just sayin’ it could have been better. And no, I wasn’t one of those annoying dudes asking to hear Grounds For Divorce, I may have a blog, but I still have some shame.
Boring Parade.