Having been disappointed with The Walkmen's last few efforts including the spotty Hundred Miles Off and the truly bizarre recreation of Harry Nilson's Pussy Cats, we really didn't know what to expect from a band that had been a true standby in the early aughts. Even their SXSW set at Bourbon Rocks last year seemed to lack the vitality and urgency they had displayed and barn burners from years past. Bands become surrogates for our own success in some ways, you pull for them to make it and make something you can keep believing in even if its for selfish reasons. Friday night Hamilton Leithauser & co. took the stage at the Parish and did not disappoint, despite the audience fringe that never stopped chattering away. The teenage girls in clothes barely-there, going crazy for "The Rat" like they were watching Johnny Football Hero throw the game winner? Middle Aged Vampire Weekend Looking Dude pogoing into his fellow fans like he was at a Clash show in Brixton? Didn't matter.

When Hamilton Leithauser takes the stage you're drawn into his world, time measured by the cheap digital Casio watch on his wrist. A nod to modesty that bellies the wads of cash you can make licensing songs to car commercials these days ("Wake Up"). His introverted, thousand yard stage presence hanging on his mic between the primal screaming verses is the emotional presence of a band who got their start making experimental music meant for records, not live settings. The insistent, fuzzed fret work of Paul Maroon adds an urban disenchantment to oldies like "Thinking of a Dream I Had" off their '04 release Bows and Arrows. Somewhat mediocre tracks like "Louisiana" have morphed into well considered gems like "Red Moon" -- a quiet bar ballad drenched in New Orleans brass and melancholy -- that despite its downbeat nature failed to quiet the Parish crowd. Leithauser, after letting the song trail off, admonished the whistling crowd "It's always hard to get people quiet for that one." Sold out audiences don't necessarily go in for the quiet sets. New songs like "In the New Year" benefited from the increased urgency Leithauser's voice adopts during the band's live sets, the screams just so much screechier and unpredictable, the phrasing switched up just enough to give the words a new coloring.

With the markets raiding our confidence and a two year presidential race slogging its way to the bitter end, the cathartic release of The Walkmen's set was just the right vehicle for the teeming crowd to blow off some steam. Heading into the night one audience member summed it up to his date "You know what was great about that? Everything."

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