It’s been a couple of years since Wolf Parade made their sold-out debut in Cincinnati. After touring in support of their second LP At Mount Zoomer, the band took a year off so its two frontmen, Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner, could focus on their other projects, Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs. When the band reconvened, they pumped out what became their third full-length release, EXPO 86, a frenzied, focused record that hits just as hard as their debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary. Wolf Parade is touring once again in support of their newest release, and returned to the Southgate House on Friday for another sold out show.

The band opened with “What Did My Lover Say” and the whole crowd lost it, pumping fists and thrashing around. You would think that kind of energy would be lost after the third or fourth song, but the audience kept it up for the entire show. Who could blame them, though? Wolf Parade put on one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time. The band blew through several songs off EXPO 86 and At Mount Zoomer, but it was still songs from Apologies to the Queen Mary that made the crowd freak out. I have to admit, it’s a pretty amazing sight from the balcony to watch the whole crowd screaming the words to “I’ll Believe In Anything.” The band ended with an extended militant march-turned-fuzzed out, guitar freak out version of “Kissing the Beehive.”

While the crowd’s energy definitely made an awesome show even better, one of the most interesting things about a Wolf Parade show has to be the stage dynamics between singer/keyboardist Spencer Krug and singer/guitarist Dan Boeckner. There’s Krug, who sways and lurches like a man possessed as he pumps the keys. Krug admitted to being really hungover, but it didn’t stop him from throwing himself full force into every song. Then there’s Boeckner, a tall, reedy dude in a black cut-off t-shirt and boots who plays with sharp, jerky movements as he wails on guitar, cigarette in mouth. While the band’s music prowess is something to be reckoned with, the stage presence of its members might be one of the band’s defining qualities.

-Caitlin Behle @cutelin

Wolf Parade – EXPO 86 by subpop

Setlist:
1. What Did My Lover Say (It Always Had to Go This Way)
2. Language City
3. Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts
4. Palm Road
5. Oh You, Old Thing
6. This Heart’s on Fire
7. Ghost Pressure
8. I’ll Believe in Anything
9. Fine Young Cannibals
10. Two Men in New Tuxedos
11. Yulia
12. Kissing the Beehive