Proof Tom Cruise is right: Frog Eyes+Wolf Parade

(And proof you can't decide content until after you've seen the show)

"You're not on the guest list. Do you hear me? You're not on the guest list. Okay?"
-that's what we were greeted to when Photo "only speaks to me when convienent" Justin fresh off the back of his Rolling Stone debut (photographing TAI nonetheless) and I stepped up to the will call window at the Crystal Ballroom on Tuesday night shortly before set time. I couldn't really say "You've seen my face over and over," as I haven't been to a show there since Franz Ferdinand on September 24th 2004. So we waited for the tour manager to verify that yes indeed we did have photo passes for the night's show. So we waited and they bitched. By they I'm referring to Justin's crew for a day- a makeup artist and a hair stylist that Swan Lake refused when he had shot them for DIW earlier. So in between them being deemed "the rudest Canadians" ever met (probably just perceptive) I was told I owed him toward $425 worth of damage that occured to his car a day after we got back from Sasquatch in May at which point I had already Greyhounded it to PDX. Apparently I was liable (?)

Whale Bones' lead singer looked distractingly Kevin Barnes-esque while the bassist was distractingly Wolfmother-esque. They were good. The whole time I stood there wondering "Am I old?" As I looked around me all I could see was a sea of thirteen year olds that I wanted to be no where near.
Had I been in eighth grade I would have loved all those boys with their indie hair and the fact that they're in eighth grade attending a concert on a tour titled 'Spirit Quest', but I'm not in 8th grade.
And as I stood there arms bruising, and standing next to the most annoying teens EVER discussing back to school shopping I agreed right then and there with Tom Cruise. Hyper active kids shouldn't be given ritalin-they should be taken out and shot! I contemplated leaving as it was the kid's mission next to me to force me out and it became more than uncomfortable, but painful and yeah-my mood was going south fast having to wait for the change over for Frog Eyes.

I also think I may have been on drugs (I wasn't) as after closing my eyes to escape the negativity, I didn't need a set list to differentiate each song. One was like falling through dew beaded cobwebs to parts of your life you most want to go back to. I had similar visuals for each of their songs over the course of their short yet oh so fulfilling set, including a song that reminded me of the final chapter in Ask the Dust.

Their set came to a close on a slightly out of tune note in terms of interaction after Spencer Krug gave a bottle of water to someone in the audience, causing lead singer Carey Mercer to launch into a lecture: "Hey you should pay him for that! That comes directly out his pocket!," continuing angerily. I guess riders don't exist anymore. (PS the Crystal Ballroom has someone whose specific job it is to go out and buy the rider-he was interviewed for a Franz Ferdinand feature in Willamette Week)
The band reluctantly/bashfully joined hands at the end of their set for a joint bow, then made their way down the staircase and off the stage.

'The Oscillator's Hum' Frog Eyes MP3

So how blogger chic am I? Knew nothing of Wolf Parade until just before the show. I stumbled upon a myspace profile after getting a friend request and the song on their page was one by Wolf Parade. I then clicked on to theirs, listening to another, and then called it a day. But hey-I haven't lived in this country for two years and they're not nearly as big in the UK as they are here.

Needless to say they made me want to raise a half eaten chocolate bar in the air and dance. Or at least that's what it appeared people were doing next to me. Soon it became noticable as they passed it towards resident noise maker Hadji that it was actually a swan fashioned from tin foil. It soon took it's place on top of his keyboard and he brought it back out on stage with him for their encore.

Soon after taking to the stage Spencer solicited sweatbands from the crowd and then also received a plethora of shoes and other objects. Themselves full of energy to the point of knocking down mic stands and beyond passionate about the music that they were purveying to the equally as passionate crowd, the real crush began. With frenzied hands in the air it became near impossible to breathe presses against the stage with no barrier as it also became near impossible not to smile at the same time as their set set soon became almost like an awakening fitting perfectly with 'Shine a Light'.

Playing what I can only assume were the majority of tracks off their Apologies to the Queen Mary album and EP, they played two new tracks that definitely had a less produced feel to them than the others. Who knows if this is their Isaac Brock-less sound or just because the songs are new and haven't been fully arranged. They were great and fit into the set seemlessly. Still, 'I'll Believe in Anything' stood out being the most familiar track to me and the immediacy of the lyrics were fully embodied onstage by Spencer.
The band retreated then came back for an encore of older songs from their back catalog, bringing with them Carey of Frog Eyes. The last song they played seemed to stretch on forever, and thankfully so. Bashing drums, extending the theremin to it's limits, and taking advantage of each instrument to it's full extent, Wolf parade played their way out of the Crystal Ballroom on the highest of notes, conluding their over hour and a half long set.

Expressing delight earlier on that Portland wasn't Seattle and elaborating on that a little bit more to inform us that the Seattle audience hadn't been nearly as receptive, the Portland audience certainly held to that expectation.
They also officially tackled Be Your Own Pet for the title of coolest set-list. I thought I'd seen it all when theirs appeared on paper plates that Good Shoes quickly snapped up, but Wolf Parade went one further as theirs appeared on a banana.

Now what I most want to do is go back and see if I can match each Frog Eyes song to my "visions" (it's almost as if I'm on Passions). Oh that and kidnap the entire country of Canada.