“It’s been awhile,” said a smiling Dan Boeckner to a very enthusiastic packed house at New York’s Bowery Ballroom (QRO venue review) on Tuesday, May 17th. Their first of five sold-out shows marked a triumphant return for Wolf Parade after a five-year hiatus. Die-hard fans got what they came for, as the band powered through the best of their three albums and three previous EPs for their know-every-word crowd (see set list – QRO photo), opening with “Cloud Shadow” from Expo 86 (QRO review) to a jumping throng that had staked out front-of-stage real estate for hours.
There was obvious chemistry between the two main songwriters in the band, with Boeckner and Spencer Krug trading lead vocals throughout the set. With Krug at his keyboard desk, and Boeckner euphorically lost in his guitar, the band laid it all out there leaving nothing back and definitely NOT pacing themselves for the nightly residency ahead. Krug thanked the audience for being there, saying, “There’s a reason we’re starting in the Bowery,” and when Boeckner confessed to having been nervous, a fan screamed, “We love you!”
And they did love them, bespectacled heads all bobbing by the time the band got to the ten-minute odyssey that is “Kissing the Beehive” to close the show. The band returned to the stage after a roaring ask by the crowd for an encore of two songs, “Modern” and raucous favorite “I’ll Believe in Anything”. A fitting cap to the night with a band totally enmeshed in each other and in their fans. One such fan, Ando King, had traveled from Tucson, Arizona to see the show and said, “It was well worth it.” King had, “Waited a long time to see them live,” and said that, “Wolf Parade really appreciates their fans, and it makes for exciting shows.” Well said, as Boeckner bent and shook hands with fans at the show’s end before calling it a night.
