Saturday Night at the Commodore - Wolf Parade, Listening Party, and some inebriated assholes

So, in no way was I planning to cover last night's Wolf Parade and Listening Party show (hence the Listening Party press photo). First of all, I'm a little skeptical of the value of post-show reviews in general -- who really wants to hear about the greatness of a party they weren't invited to? And secondly, I payed my own way (and I wasn't gonna make the lady take photos of this one), but the evening simply turned out to be too noteworthy to pass up posting on, and the two stellar performances from two amazing bands (one virtually unknown) was only the start...

Listening Party
By the time we'd arrived at the Commodore mid-set, Shawnigan Lake based Listening Party had clearly already won over the sold-out crowd. I first saw these guys perform almost a year ago at Richards, to a small group of Handsome Furs fans. Their unique brand of indie folk-pop had me left without any easy comparisons at the time, but it was clear that I'd just seen something very special. Their debut CD, Who Are We Missing?, was bought that night and has remained at the top of my iTunes 'recently played' list ever since -- while somehow they continued to revel in indie obscurity. It's probably one of my top ten albums of 2007, but the disc has gone basically untouched by the blogging world, let alone Canadian or international press. This shit is so instantly melodic while still being 'lo-fi' and 'cool' and 'druggie' that it would have every Pitchfork fan frothing, and is just another example of how much a bands success depends on who happens to write a review...

Regardless, Dan Boeckner and company don't need the hype to tell them who rocks, and the choice to bring Listening Party along for the latest tour is just another example of the band's musical assurance. I knew the Wolf Parade fans would react well, but I wasn't prepared for the utter entrancement of a Commodore crowd who all too typically use the opening acts as an opportunity to work up a buzz while schmoozing with would-be clients or casting agents ("what song is it that Wolf Parade sings again?"). And when Spencer Krug asked the crowd if they enjoyed the openers, the roaring cheers outdid the applause most of his own songs received.

We came in time to enjoy such highlight songs as "Through the Trees," "Little Tender Hearts," and the epic show closer "Before the Night," all tracks which appear on the debut album. Their raw, poppy but structurally experimental folk sound is pretty unique, with my best comparisons at the time being the Born Ruffians or The Dodos (and sometimes almost Modest Mousey?)... Listening Party easily outshine all of them with some superior songwriting chops and the restraint to keep a brilliant pop song to two-and-a-half while still maintaining the edge. If the huge reaction they were met with on Saturday is any indication, I'd expect big things surrounding these guys as the tour continues.

Wolf Parade
I don't need to harp on how great Wolf Parade were, but there's a reason that the West Coast band is able to sell out the Commodore while still having most of the elitists in attendance. Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner are two of the most talented Canadian musicians (and doing things five times as exciting as the Broken Social Scene troupe, IMO). And while I think their strongest material remains to be the stuff they've done on their own (with Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs, respectively), the first Wolf Parade disc is already an indie classic, and the new one, while far from perfect, is more ominous guitar-and-keys brilliance from the Victoria formed band.

They started the "kind of hometown" set (the guys grew up across BC) with the old favorite "You are a Runner and I am My Father's Son" before plunging into the new Boekner-fronted cut, I believe it was "Language City," proving why his songs own the new album. I was really getting into things until partway through the third or fourth song, when the crowd near the front of the stage (say, six rows back) got a little too drunk, stupid, and testosterone filled...

Asshole Break
Now -- when I go to a Commodore show, I'm naturally not expecting the same experience as I would at The Media Club or Richards. Crowds gonna be a lot bigger, crowds gonna be a lot drunker... crowds not gonna care as much about the music. I'm fine with this, and have learned to live with the inevitable dancefloor chatterboxes and swaying drunks using my skinny shoulders as a place to lean... but things got a little ridiculous on Saturday.

The huge, smelly, dancing dude next to me who kept pressing his sweaty chest against my side in a suspiciously deliberate (but probably just extremely drunken) way, was something I was willing to deal with for the sake of some Spencer Krugian brilliance, until another pack of big dudes in tight shirts decided to pull the old plow-on-through-to-get-up-front. Its an acceptable (though annoying) tactic, as long as the crowd has a bit of space to move around. Problem was, the dancefloor was so jam-packed already that there was no room for give; the result being an already airtight crowd crushed together by a few very large men. That includes the previously mentioned giant drunko, who I did my best to keep from completely flattening me or the lady. Eventually the girlfriend was on the floor in a pool of beer with seizuring legs and in full out panic attack mode. And this is a girl who's at a rock show two times a week...

This ain't a punk show, it ain't a rave, and it ain't a metal show. It's an indie show, and an indie show at the Commodore, of all places; you gotta expect the club to be filled with tiny girls trying to get a good view, and most of them aren't experienced concert goers like the two of us. So all you 200-pound frat boys (giddy on overpriced beer and coke or not)... give a little bit of thought before you use the concert as an opportunity to mindlessly check your aggression. Some of us really care about the music, and wouldn't mind having a good view as well.

It seemed like we were fighting the illogical pushing for a good two minutes without any intervention from security, and after eventually getting her off to the side in seat, I had to seek out someone at the back of the bar to get any help. Whassup Commodore? Gotta be prepared for this type of stuff near the front of the stage... We eventually got taken to the back, given water, and recovered for a little while, missing maybe five songs in the process.

Wolf Parade & One More Asshole
There was no way either of us wanted to give up on the show yet though, so we did come back out for the last five songs, and Wolf Parade were expectantly wonderful. While I did say that Boeckner is the star of the newest album, Krug more than impressed with a killer rendition of the new "California Dreamer," which the band followed with fan favorite "This Hearts on Fire," before closing with the dark and long, shared-vocal album ender "Kissing the Beehive," perhaps my favorite song off the new record.

It would have been the perfect way to end a show, if it weren't for the (once again incredibly drunk) dude who ran up on stage mid-song and hijacked Boeckner's mic for a line. It's a bit of a rock cliche, and usually harmless, stupid fun -- just don't act like a total fucker and completely resist the security when they're trying to get you off stage. Either bow out gracefully or save the rock parroting for the PS2.

Boecker was obviously shaken by the incident (I mean, the guy even knew the lyrics to the song, where's the respect?) and the song had a lot of it's life-force drained. What could have been the perfect close to the set just ended up reminding me of the bullshit earlier, and we left the Commodore pre-encore; a bad taste in the mouth and a little bit beat up, while the amble home still found us focused on the sheer quality of the night's music.

So after reading this, you may ask... why Jon... why?

1) Listening Party are amazing and need to be heard by everyone. (Check out that myspace!)
2) Fans at the Commodore need to wisen up and learn how to behave at an indie rock show.
3) Wolf Parade are still brilliant. But when they gonna let Dante take lead for a song?

Thats all.