ramblings about my love for spencer krug, part I

i'm going to split this into two parts because i have a lot to ramble on about. part one: anticipation.

wolf parade. why do i love wolf parade so? i'm not sure. well, for one thing, they were pretty much the band that turned me onto "indie music". i remember back when my primary method of finding new music was to go on myspace and find a band i liked (back then, usually fall out boy or the like) and click on whatever bands they had in each other's "top friends" and i might someday stumble upon something interesting, but i've always been one to listen to the same songs over and over again, so i stuck to my fall out boy and showtunes. one day i decided that the music i had been listening to was really not that good so i went out of my comfort zone. i remember the first three bands of the music i listen to now: arcade fire, then broken social scene, then i found wolf parade. before i was even finished listening to "i'll believe in anything" i had a new favourite band. and so "apologies to the queen mary" remains one of if not my favourite album ever. it's just so close to perfect. i love me some unique voices, and this band had two of them (though it actually took me some time to realize that; now i can't imagine thinking that spencer and dan sound remotely alike), and it was just so catchy and cheered me right up.

and so shortly after i realized that these songs were in fact sung by two different voices and that all of my favourite songs were by one of these voices so i went to check that out and found out about sunset rubdown. and that is when i fell in love with spencer krug. it was just around the time that "random spirit lover" came out, and i listened to that and "shut up i am dreaming" on repeat for weeks on end. spencer's voice + lyrics that are beautiful even though i have no idea what he's talking about = my favourite ever.

so, that is why i was so excited to see wolf parade live. my expectations for them had gone down a little since "at mount zoomer", which just seemed like a place that they dumped songs that weren't quirky enough for their other projects. but to see spencer krug. all i needed was for them to play "i'll believe in anything" and "sons and daughters of hungry ghosts" and i would have been happy. plus i'd heard from a couple of people that their live shows were sometimes sloppy and drunken. so as excited as i was, my expectations were not as high as they would be had it been a sunset rubdown show.

but it turns out i was not disappointed in the least.

to start out the night, my dear friend katelyn, with whom i was staying in fredericton, and i had some lovely afternoon drinks on a beautiful day and got dressed up all nice. we then headed out to get something to eat at the popular fredericton dining spot "the snooty fox". they had delicious fruity cocktails on special and i ordered a roasted red pepper, garlic, and feta pita dip thing that was fabulous. a few of katelyn's friends met us there and as we talked in anticipation, katelyn's friend craig looked out the window and said "is that them outside? are they coming in? they're coming inside the restaurant!" and as they walked by i repressed my squeals. i took notice of two girls that were with them, but neither was walking next to spencer. that made me glad because in my head, since i know i will never have him, he is pretty much asexual. it seems to make sense. he is too focused on his music to have time for romance.

after leaving the restaurant (where we unfortunately only saw them as they walked past our table into a back room), we made our way to the venue a half hour or so early. there were exactly two people there already. we began a lineup by the door and when we were let in, we claimed the spot in the very center front. well, a little to the left, because there was a speaker in the middle. we waited for a while, and then the opening band played and they were barely decent but maybe i'm just judging harshly because i wanted them to be done so wolf parade would play. the set change in the middle was practically unbearably long.

the first member of the band to appear onstage was the drummer arlen who i think wears that same hat for his entire life. his drums were white and sparkly and if i played drums i would want ones like that. then dan came out and got some nice applause. in person he is just as skinny and drug-addict-chic. and spencer came out last, wearing suede boater shoes. he has such adorable mannerisms, wandering around the stage looking slightly lost. that may have been because later he said he was not feeling so well that night. then they all disappeared for way too long while a girl did sound checks and practically stuck spencer's mic down her throat. and then they came out and started playing a song and you will hear about my thoughts from this point on later.